From ‘Avatar’ to ‘KPop Demon Hunters’: Inside the 2026 VES Awards Winners
The Visual Effects Society has announced the winners of the 24th Annual VES Awards, which took place last night at the The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. The ceremony honoured outstanding achievements in visual effects across 25 categories spanning film, television, animation, gaming, technology, commercials, special venue projects, and student work.
The evening’s most decorated project was Avatar: Fire and Ash, which earned seven awards, including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. The film also received accolades for Outstanding Character in a Photoreal Feature for the character Varang, portrayed by Oona Chaplin, who presented the ceremony. A special congratulations to UK Screen Alliance Member, Industrial Light & Magic, for their fantastic work on Avatar: Fire and Ash.
In the animated feature categories, KPop Demon Hunters led with three awards. Among its honours were Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature and Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature for the character Rumi.
Other top-category winners included Sinners for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature; Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode; and BMW’s commercial Heart of Joy: Meet Okto the Octopus for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial. A special congratulations to UK Screen Alliance Members, Industrial Light & Magic, Outpost VFX, and LIGHT for their outstanding contributions to Sinners.
Additional honourees included the video game Ghost of Yōtei (Outstanding Visual Arts in a Real-Time Project), the Disney+ series Andor (Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project), and Azimuth (Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project).
“The VES is honoured to recognize brilliant artistry and technological innovation across a wide range of disciplines. The craft of visual effects is constantly evolving to push the limits of our imaginations, and tonight’s inspiring winners and nominees represent best-in-class work from around the world. Congratulations to all!”
Kim Davidson, VES Board Chair
(source: Visual Effects Society)
See the full list of winners below:
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Richard Baneham
Peter Litvack
Eric Saindon
Nicky Muir
Steve Ingram
- OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Sinners
Michael Ralla
James Alexander
Nick Marshall
Espen Nordahl
Donnie Dean
- OUTSTANDING ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Joshua Beveridge
Jacky Priddle
Benjamin Hendricks
Clara Chan
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; “The Big Freeze”
Russell Dodgson
Tracey Gibbons
François Dumoulin
Gavin McKenzie
- OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
The Residence; “The Fall of the House of Usher”
Seth Hill
Tesa Kubicek
John Nelson
Gabriel Vargas
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL ARTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
Ghost of Yōtei
Jason Connell
Matt Vainio
Joanna Wang
Jasmin Patry
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”
Tom Raynor
Helen Tang
Jack Harris
Alex Kulikov
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere
Ben Grossmann
Tamara Watts Kent
Dr. Irfan Essa
Matt Dougan
Glenn Derry
- OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Varang: Leader of the Ash Clan
Stephen Clee
Stuart Adcock
Keven Norris
Joseph Kim
- OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters; Rumi
Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee
Andrea Matamoros
Marc Souliere
Joshua Beveridge
- OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN EPISODIC, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
IT: Welcome to Derry; “The Thing in the Dark;” The Pickle Monster
Philip Harris-Genois
Pierric Danjou
Chloé Ostiguy
Jonathan Bourdua
- OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Bridgehead Industrial City
Gianluca Pizzaia
Steve Bevins
Dziga Kaiser
Zsolt Máté
- OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Zootopia 2; Marsh Market
Limei Z. Hshieh
Alexander Nicholas Whang
Joshua Fry
Ryan DeYoung
- OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODIC, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Andor; “Welcome to the Rebellion;” The Senate District
John O’Connell
Falk Boje
Hasan Ilhan
Kevin George
- OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Steve Deane
A.J. Briones
Zachary Brake
Andrew Moffett
- OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
Avatar: Fire and Ash; The Windtraders’ Gondola
Michael Smale
Sam Sharplin
Joe W. Churchill
Jacqi Dillon
- OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Simulating Pandora
Nicholas James Illingworth
Sarah C. Farmer
James Robinson
Ryan Bowden
- OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Filippo Maccari
Nikolaos Finizio
Daniel La Chapelle
Srdjan Milosevic
- OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; The Big Freeze
Edward Ferrysienanda
Kevin Christensen
Guy Schuleman
Kevin Tarpinian
- OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
F1: The Movie; Modern Race and POV Footage
Hugo Gauvreau
Chris Davies
Raushan Raj
Amaury Rospars
- OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
The Last of Us; “Through the Valley;” A Storm of Ice, Fire and Flesh
Tobias Wiesner
Mark Julien
Owen Longstaff
Brendan Naylor
- OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”
Alex Kulikov
Jack Harris
Adam Chabane
Nicola Borsari
- OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
Andor; “Who Are You?”
Luke Murphy
Dean Ford
Jody Eltham
Darrell Guyon
- EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Avatar: Fire and Ash; Kora Fire Toolset
Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin
John Edholm
Murali Ramachari
Aleksandr Isakov
- OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT
Azimuth
Thomas Teisseire
Cassandre Cinier
Martin Bluy
Mathis Giraudeau
