KPop Demon Hunters is unstoppable.
Netflix‘s come-from-nowhere global animation phenomenon swept this year’s Annie Awards, the animation honors handed out by the L.A. Branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, taking 10 prizes, including best feature.
The pop musical, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, also won best direction, best music, best writing, best editorial and best voice acting for Arden Cho, who voices Rumi. It also swept the technical categories at the Annies, winning best FX, best character animation, best character design and best production design.
Netflix launched the Sony-produced KPop Demon Hunters last summer with little promotion or fanfare, but it became an overnight sensation and the streamer’s most-watched movie of all time, with a reported 481.6 million views worldwide in the second half of 2025.
KPop indie competitor at the Oscars, Ugo Bienvenu’s hand-drawn French feature Arco, won the prize for best independent feature at the Annies.
A number of past Annie Awards winners have gone on to win the best animated feature Oscar. The last Annie best feature winner to also triumph at the Academy Awards was Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio in 2023. Last year, the Annie Awards’ top prize went to The Wild Robot. The Oscars opted for Annie best independent winner Flow.
In the television categories, notable winners included Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects, which won in the best TV/media mature category; Hulu’s The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, winner of the best TV/media children honor; and Disney+’s Win Or Lose, which took the best limited series prize. Wow Lisa, a Spanish-language Chilean show, which combines 3D characters placed within scale-model, crafted backgrounds, won the Annie for best preschool series.
ASIFA-Hollywood presented its lifetime achievement honors, the Winsor McCay Award, to Dutch writer and director Michaël Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle), The Lego Movie and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs writer-directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord and writer-director Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, Wild Robot).
Sandy Rabins, an animation and live action producer, who was a driving force behind ASIFA-Hollywood’s AnimAID, which provided assistance and support for those in the animation industry who were affected by the L.A. wildfires, received the June Foray Award for “significant and benevolent impact to the animation community.”
The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement affecting the animation industry went to Japanese company Wacom, manufacturer of the Cintiq graphics tablet, which has become the industry standard for professional 2D animation, storyboarding and concept art.
Animation fair LightBox Expo received a special achievement award for bringing “the creative animation community of filmmakers together with animation students and fans.” The ASIFA-Hollywood Merit Award is given by the board of directors to individuals for current and on-going service to the organization and the animation industry went to Jeffrey New and Haley Mirren Douthit.
Full list of 2026 Annie Award Winners:
BEST FEATUREKPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST FEATURE – INDEPENDENTArcoRemembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma
BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTIONSnoopy Presents: A Summer MusicalWildBrain Studios in association with Apple
BEST SHORT SUBJECTSnow BearThe Art of Aaron Blaise
BEST SPONSOREDOlipop YetiScreen Novelties & Passion Pictures
BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOLWow LisaEpisode: Rainy DayPunkrobot
BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDRENThe Wonderfully Weird World of GumballEpisode: The RewriteHanna-Barbera Studios Europe
BEST TV/MEDIA – MATURECommon Side EffectsEpisode: PilotGreen Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions
BEST TV/MEDIA – LIMITED SERIESWin Or LoseEpisode: HomePixar Animation Studios
BEST STUDENT FILMA Sparrow’s SongTobias EckerlinFilmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
BEST FX – TV/MEDIAEdward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Schuleman, Benedikt Roettger, Kevin TarpinianPrehistoric Planet: Ice AgeEpisode: The Big FreezeBBC Studios Natural History UnitFX: Framestore
BEST FX – FEATUREFilippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Corbaux, Naoki Kato, Daniel La ChapelleKPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation for NetflixFX: Sony Pictures Imageworks
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIAAlli SadegianiWin Or LosePixar Animation Studios
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURERyusuke FuruyaKPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation, Netflix
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTIONKayn Garcia, Jean-Denis Haas, Meena Ibrahim, Nathan McConnel, Nick TripodiHow To Train Your DragonDreamWorks AnimationFX: Framestore
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAMEMike Jungbluth, Sebastien Dussault, Vincent Schneider, Remi EdmondSouth of MidnightCompulsion Games
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIARobert ValleyLove, Death + RobotsEpisode: 400 BoysBlur Studio for Netflix
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATUREScott Watanabe, Ami ThompsonKPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIAVincent TsuiCommon Side EffectsEpisode: Cliff’s EdgeProductions
BEST DIRECTION – FEATUREMaggie Kang, Chris AppelhansKPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIARamin Djawadi, Shane Eli, Johnny PakfarWin Or LoseEpisode: Episode 6, Mixed SignalsPixar Animation Studios
BEST MUSIC – FEATUREKPop Demon Hunters Music TeamKPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIAGigi CavenagoLove, Death + RobotsEpisode: How Zeke Got ReligionBlur Studio for Netflix
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATUREHelen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine KimKPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIAEdgar MartinsLove, Death + RobotsEpisode: How Zeke Got ReligionBlur Studio for Netflix
BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATUREAnthony Holden, Young Ki YoonThe Bad Guys 2DreamWorks Animation
BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIADan Mintz (as Tina Belcher)Bob’s BurgersEpisode: Don’t Worry Be Hoopy20th Television Animation
BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATUREArden Cho (as Rumi)KPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIAJoe Bennett, Steve HelyCommon Side EffectsEpisode: PilotGreen Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions
BEST WRITING – FEATUREDanya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang, Chris AppelhansKPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation for Netflix
BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIATony Christopherson, Joie LimCommon Side EffectsEpisode: RaidGreen Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions
BEST EDITORIAL – FEATUREKPop Demon Hunters Editorial TeamKPop Demon HuntersSony Pictures Animation for Netflix
WINSOR McCAY AWARDMichaël Dudok de WitChristopher MillerPhil LordChris Sanders
JUNE FORAY AWARDSandy Rabins
UB IWERKS AWARDWacom
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDLightBox Expo
ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD MERIT AWARDJeffrey NewHaley Mirren Douthit
