Annie Awards: KPop Demon Hunters Scores 10 Wins as Global Animation Hit

By: Shawn
‎At the latest Annie Awards ceremony, organized by ASIFA-Hollywood, one title stood far above the rest. Netflix’s animated musical KPop Demon Hunters captured 10 awards, highlighted by the evening’s top honor for best feature.
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‎Helmed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, the pop-infused production was recognized across creative and technical disciplines. It collected prizes for direction, music, writing and editing. Arden Cho earned best voice acting for portraying Rumi. Additional wins included FX, character animation, character design and production design, completing a sweep of the technical fields.
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‎KPop Demon Hunters earns 10 Annie Awards, including best feature, as ASIFA-Hollywood spotlights major film, TV, and industry achievements.
‎Netflix
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‎The Sony-produced feature debuted on Netflix last summer with limited promotion, yet rapidly evolved into a worldwide phenomenon. During the second half of 2025, it reportedly amassed 481.6 million global views, becoming the streamer’s most-viewed movie to date.
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‎In the independent feature race, French filmmaker Ugo Bienvenu secured the Annie Award with his hand-drawn film Arco, which is also competing at the Oscars.
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‎The Annie Awards have often foreshadowed Academy Award outcomes. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio marked the most recent film to win both Annie best feature and the Oscar in 2023. The following year, The Wild Robot claimed the Annie top prize, while the Academy selected Flow, which had previously won the Annie for best independent feature.
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‎Television productions were also celebrated. Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects topped the mature TV/media category. Hulu’s The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball earned the children’s TV/media award, and Disney+’s Win Or Lose received best limited series. The preschool category went to Wow Lisa, a Chilean Spanish-language series combining 3D characters with scale-model crafted sets.
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‎Among special honors, the Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement was presented to Michaël Dudok de Wit, filmmakers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, and writer-director Chris Sanders.
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‎Producer Sandy Rabins was honored with the June Foray Award for his significant and benevolent impact on the animation community through AnimAID, which aided professionals affected by the Los Angeles wildfires.
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‎The Ub Iwerks Award recognizing technical advancement in animation was presented to Wacom for its Cintiq graphics tablet, widely regarded as an industry standard for professional 2D animation, storyboarding and concept art.
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‎LightBox Expo received a special achievement award for fostering connections among filmmakers, students and fans in the animation world. The ASIFA-Hollywood Merit Award was given to Jeffrey New and Haley Mirren Douthit for their ongoing service to the organization and the industry.

‎Full list of 2026 Annie Award Winners:
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‎BEST FEATURE

‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
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‎BEST FEATURE – INDEPENDENT

‎Arco
‎Remembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma
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‎BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION
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Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical
‎WildBrain Studios in association with Apple
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‎BEST SHORT SUBJECT

‎Snow Bear
‎The Art of Aaron Blaise
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‎BEST SPONSORED

‎Olipop Yeti
‎Screen Novelties & Passion Pictures
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‎BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL

‎Wow Lisa
‎Episode: Rainy Day
‎Punkrobot
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‎BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN

‎The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball
‎Episode: The Rewrite
‎Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe
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‎BEST TV/MEDIA – MATURE

‎Common Side Effects
‎Episode: Pilot
‎Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
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‎BEST TV/MEDIA – LIMITED SERIES

‎Win Or Lose
‎Episode: Home
‎Pixar Animation Studios
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‎BEST STUDENT FILM

‎A Sparrow’s Song
‎Tobias Eckerlin
‎Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
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‎BEST FX – TV/MEDIA

‎Edward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Schuleman, Benedikt Roettger, Kevin Tarpinian
‎Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age
‎Episode: The Big Freeze
‎BBC Studios Natural History Unit
‎FX: Framestore
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‎BEST FX – FEATURE

‎Filippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Corbaux, Naoki Kato, Daniel La Chapelle
‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
‎FX: Sony Pictures Imageworks
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‎BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA

‎Alli Sadegiani
‎Win Or Lose
‎Pixar Animation Studios
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‎BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE

‎Ryusuke Furuya
‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix
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‎BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION

‎Kayn Garcia, Jean-Denis Haas, Meena Ibrahim, Nathan McConnel, Nick Tripodi
‎How To Train Your Dragon
‎DreamWorks Animation
‎FX: Framestore
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‎BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME

‎Mike Jungbluth, Sebastien Dussault, Vincent Schneider, Remi Edmond
‎South of Midnight
‎Compulsion Games
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‎BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA

‎Robert Valley
‎Love, Death + Robots
‎Episode: 400 Boys
‎Blur Studio for Netflix
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‎BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE

‎Scott Watanabe, Ami Thompson
‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
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‎BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA

‎Vincent Tsui
‎Common Side Effects
‎Episode: Cliff’s Edge
‎Productions
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‎BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE

‎Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
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‎BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA

‎Ramin Djawadi, Shane Eli, Johnny Pakfar
‎Win Or Lose
‎Episode: Episode 6, Mixed Signals
‎Pixar Animation Studios
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‎BEST MUSIC – FEATURE

‎KPop Demon Hunters Music Team
‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
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‎BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA

‎Gigi Cavenago
‎Love, Death + Robots
‎Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
‎Blur Studio for Netflix
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‎BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE

‎Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine Kim
‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
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‎BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA

‎Edgar Martins
‎Love, Death + Robots
‎Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
‎Blur Studio for Netflix
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‎BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE

‎Anthony Holden, Young Ki Yoon
‎The Bad Guys 2
‎DreamWorks Animation
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‎BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA

‎Dan Mintz (as Tina Belcher)
‎Bob’s Burgers
‎Episode: Don’t Worry Be Hoopy
‎20th Television Animation
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‎BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE

‎Arden Cho (as Rumi)
‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
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‎BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA

‎Joe Bennett, Steve Hely
‎Common Side Effects
‎Episode: Pilot
‎Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions
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‎BEST WRITING – FEATURE

‎Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
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‎BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA

‎Tony Christopherson, Joie Lim
‎Common Side Effects
‎Episode: Raid
‎Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions
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‎BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE

‎KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team
‎KPop Demon Hunters
‎Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
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‎WINSOR McCAY AWARD

‎Michaël Dudok de Wit
‎Christopher Miller
‎Phil Lord
‎Chris Sanders
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‎JUNE FORAY AWARD

‎Sandy Rabins
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‎UB IWERKS AWARD

‎Wacom
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‎SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

‎LightBox Expo
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‎ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD MERIT AWARD

‎Jeffrey New
‎Haley Mirren Douthit

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