AWN’s 2026 Annie Awards Roundup: Top Contenders in Film and TV

With ASIFA-Hollywood’s 53rd Annual Annie Awards ceremony set for Saturday, February 21 at UCLA’s Royce Hall, as we do each year, AWN shines the spotlight on some of the top contenders in the feature film, short film and TV categories. 

Among the well-known, high profile projects like Bob’s Burgers, South Park, Zootopia 2 and The Bad Guys 2, new and jaw-dropping successes like Little Amélie, Common Side Effects and, of course, the now global phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters are also among the awards contenders this year.

From cotton-candy-colored stop-motions like Sanrio’s My Melody & Kuromi to the mixed media madness of Hanna-Barbera Studios’ The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, every type of art style and range of production size found in animated storytelling is represented in this slate of nominees.

Among story summaries and nominations, we’ve also included in this roundup the features of each project that made the film or TV series unique and the challenges each team had to face in bringing it to fruition. 

Here’s the complete list of nominees; read through our extensive roundup and root for your favorites at tomorrow evening’s ceremony. If you can’t attend, watch it live here! 

Film

Elio (Pixar Animation Studios)

Directed by Madeline Sharafian (Burrow), Domee Shi (Turning Red, Bao) and Adrian Molina (Coco, upcoming Coco 2), and produced by Mary Alice Drumm (Coco, Brave), the film tells the story of Elio, (voiced by Yonas Kibreab), an 11-year-old space fanatic with an active imagination and a huge alien obsession… his biggest wish is to get abducted by aliens. So, when he’s beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization with representatives from galaxies far and wide, Elio’s all in for the epic undertaking. Mistakenly identified as Earth’s leader, Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions, and somehow discover who and where he is truly meant to be… back home on Earth. 

Elio has been anything but out of sight and mind, snagging 10 Annie Award nominations, including Best Feature, Best FX - Feature (Ferdi Scheepers, Shaun Galinak, Alyssa Lee, Nate Skeen, Gary Bruins), Best Character Animation - Feature (Jonah Sidhom), Best Character Design - Feature (Matt Nolte, Yingzong Xin, James Woods, Kaleb Rice, Bob Pauley), Best Music - Feature (Rob Simonsen), Best Production Design - Feature (Harley Jessup, Ernesto Nemesio, Maria Lee, Kristian Norelius, Kyle Jones), Best Storyboarding - Feature (Tony Rosenast), Best Voice Acting - Feature (Remy Edgerly, Character: Glordon), Best Writing - Feature (Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones), and Best Editorial - Feature (Anna Wolitzky, Steve Bloom, Noah Newman, Greg Snyder, Ben Morris). 

At the heart of Elio, both directors emphasize, is a clear emotional framework rooted in classical storytelling. Sharafian describes the structure as almost fairy-tale in nature: “A child leaves home dissatisfied, enters a new world, and returns with a new appreciation for home. Elio has to hate Earth at the beginning and choose Earth at the end.” Achieving that arc required careful balance. “We wanted the audience to agree that returning home was the right choice, even though space is amazing,” she continues. “That was hard, and we didn’t get it right immediately. A lot of the notes we would get would be like, ‘Why doesn't he just stay in space? It's great.’ And we'd be like, ‘Oh shoot, we didn't get it right.’”

Shi points to Elio’s relationship with Olga as essential to grounding that journey. “At the beginning, he feels unloved, and by the end he feels wanted and connected,” she says. “That emotional journey had to land for the movie to work, and it was something we always came back to when we were stuck.”

To learn more about Elio, check out AWN’s coverage below: 

• ‘Elio’: A Challenging Outer Space Tale Finds its Way Home
• 7 ‘Pixels & Pencils’ Panel Directors Talk Big Swings and Big Dreams
• Additional AWN coverage can be found here

KPop Demon Hunters (Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix)

In Netflix’s hit animated musical, KPop Demon Hunters, pop idols Rumi, Mira, and Zoey lead double lives - selling out arenas by day and battling supernatural forces by night. They’re members of the world-renowned K-pop girl group HUNTR/X, who balance their lives in the spotlight with their secret identities as demon hunters.

With a voice cast that includes Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, and Ji-young Yoo, and music from K-pop powerhouses including Teddy Park and members of TWICE, the film fuses Korean folklore, music video stylization, and supernatural action into what quickly become the most globally streamed movie on Netflix since its June 20 debut. The soundtrack’s lead single, “Golden,” performed by the fictional girl group, became the first virtual artist track to top both the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts and is has been nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards. 

Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans direct, with a script by Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Kang, and Appelhans. Michelle L.M. Wong produces alongside co-producers Scott Berri and Jacky Priddle. The film is from Sony Pictures Animation. It also stars Yunjin Kim, Joel Kim Booster, and Liza Koshy, with Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and Byung Hun Lee.

With the film’s incredible success, it’s no surprise KPop Demon Hunters has received 10 Annie Award nominations: Best Feature, Best FX - Feature (Sony Pictures Imageworks - Filippo Maccari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Corbaux, Naoki Kato, Daniel La Chapelle), Best Character Animation - Feature (Ryusuke Furuya), Best Character Design - Feature (Scott Watanabe, Ami Thompson), Best Direction - Feature (Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans), Best Music - Feature (KPop Demon Hunters Music Team), Best Production Design - Feature (Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine Kim), Best Voice Acting - Feature (Arden Cho, Character: Rumi), Best Writing - Feature (Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans), and Best Editorial - Feature (KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team).

“It always comes down to how much you connect with the characters,” says Kang. “We leaned into the things we love. As a director, your biggest critic is yourself. We wanted to make a film that was really different, but also something we’d love to watch. I was born in Korea and raised in Canada. I live between those two cultures. My humor comes from Korean variety shows and dramas, but also Western influences. I wanted to mash those together. And right now, everybody is keen on consuming more Korean content.”

Appelhans added, “I love that we’re in a time where cultural identity, entertainment, music, and storytelling are all getting mixed up. Half our storyboard crew didn’t grow up on Disney - they grew up on anime. So, we’d make FLCL references instead of Bambi references. That kind of cross-pollination is happening across animation right now.”

To learn more about KPop Demon Hunters, check out AWN’s coverage below: 

• Inside the World of 'KPop Demon Hunters' with Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans
• Designing the Sound and Style of Netflix’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’
• Chris Appelhans Reflects on ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and SCAD Impact Award
• 7 ‘Pixels & Pencils’ Panel Directors Talk Big Swings and Big Dreams
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here.

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (Maybe Movies, Ikki Films and GKIDS)

Adapting Amélie Nothomb’s novel “The Character of the Rain,” Little Amélie or the Character of Rain tells a tender, poignant, and visually stunning story about the healing power of human connection. In the film, Amélie is a young Belgian girl born and raised in Japan. Believing she’s a god trapped in a limited body but inhabiting an unlimited world centered around herself, Amélie soon comes face to face with reality on her third birthday. After the death of her grandmother and almost drowning twice, Amélie not only discovers that she and her loved ones are not immortal, but she learns from conversations surrounding these events that there are conflicts outside of her control and understanding. 

At only three, Amélie is wiser than most as she learns the complexities of life – that the same country that gave Amélie glorious white chocolate could also take her grandmother away, and that the Japanese woman who despises Amélie’s heritage values life enough to save the child from a terrible fate. 

Produced by Nidia Santiago and Edwina Liard for Ikki Films, and Claire La Combe and Henri Magalon for Maybe Movies, and distributed by GKIDS, Little Amélie marks the directorial debut for both Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han.

The film is nominated for seven Annie Awards including Best Feature, Best Character Animation - Feature (Juliette Laurent), Best Direction - Feature (Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han), Best Music - Feature (Mari Fukuhara), Best Storyboarding - Feature (Nicolas Pawlowski), Best Writing - Feature (Liane-Cho Han, Aude Py, Maïlys Vallade, Eddine Noël), and Best Editorial - Feature (Ludovic Versace). 

“We wanted Amélie’s perception to seem like an entire world,” says Vallade. “I even remember playing with shadows as a kid. It’s a very surrealistic way to establish that perception but, we wanted spaces like the garden to seem infinite, small things like spinning tops to appear much larger than they were, and sunlight to seem like something you could touch. Of course, as the movie goes on, that garden gets smaller and you start to see houses in the background. It’s our way of visually showing that Amélie’s is realizing the world is not just about her.”

To learn more about Little Amélie, check out AWN’s coverage below: 

• ‘Little Amélie or the Character of Rain’ Shows Life is Always Worth Living
• 7 ‘Pixels & Pencils’ Panel Directors Talk Big Swings and Big Dreams
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

The Bad Guys 2 (DreamWorks Animation)

Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, Mr. Piranha and Ms. Tarantula have returned in The Bad Guys 2, now streaming on Peacock and available to rent on Prime Video and Apple TV. Since its release by Universal Pictures last August, DreamWorks’ animated heist comedy sequel has earned not one, not two, but five Annie Awards nominations: Best Feature, Best FX - Feature (Landon Gray, Michael Losure, Zachary Glynn, Chris Wombold, Olivier Malric), Best Character Animation - Feature (Ludovic Bouancheau), Best Production Design - Feature (Luc Desmarchelier, Floriane Marchix), and Best Storyboarding - Feature (Anthony Holden, Young Ki Yoon). 

Based on the New York Times best-selling “The Bad Guys” book series by Aaron Blabey and produced by DreamWorks Animation, The Bad Guys 2 takes place after the events of the first film, released in 2022, and features the highly anticipated return of everyone’s favorite felons. But this time… they’ve got company.

In the new action-packed chapter, a crackerjack crew of animal outlaws, our now-reformed Bad Guys, are trying (very, very hard) to be good, but instead find themselves hijacked into a high-stakes, globe-trotting heist, masterminded by a new team of criminals they never saw coming: The Bad Girls.

Pierre Perifel directs, alongside producer Damon Ross. The film is co-directed by JP Sans, who served as head of character animation on the first film. The music is by Oscar-nominated returning composer Daniel Pemberton.

“The ambition was very high from the beginning,” says Perifel. “We explored sketches early on and really pushed some of those ideas very far. The budget was not any different, and we were going to have to work with a partner studio. It was a collaboration with Sony Imageworks. And that's never been done before. VFX supervisor Matt Baer was thinking of all these challenges as I was thinking about the story and design. But the ambition was much bigger. We wanted to push things. We want to stretch things and stretch ourselves.”

To learn more about The Bad Guys 2, check out AWN’s coverage below: 

• ‘The Bad Guys 2’: It’s Still Hard to be Bad at Being Good
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney Animation Studios)

From the Oscar-winning team of directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard, as well as producer Yvett Merino, Disney’s Zootopia 2 is the sequel to Oscar-winning 2016 animated comedy, Zootopia.

In the film, after cracking the biggest case in Zootopia’s history, rookie cops Judy Hopps (voice of Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voice of Jason Bateman) find their partnership isn’t as solid as they thought when Chief Bogo (voice of Idris Elba) orders them to join the Partners in Crisis counseling program. But it doesn’t take long for their partnership to be put to the ultimate test when they find themselves on the twisting trail of a mystery tied to the arrival of a venomous snake in the animal metropolis.

The film introduces Gary De’Snake (voice of Ke Huy Quan), Nibbles (voice of Fortune Feimster) and quokka therapist Dr. Fuzzby (voice of Quinta Brunson); it also welcomes back Idris Elba (voice of Chief Bogo); Bonnie Hunt (voice of Bonnie Hopps); Don Lake (voice of Stu Hopps); Nate Torrence (voice of Clawhauser); Jenny Slate (voice of Bellwether); Alan Tudyk (voice of Duke Weaselton); Maurice LaMarche (voice of Mr. Big); Leah Latham (voice of Fru Fru); Josh Dallas (voice of Frantic Pig); Tommy Chong (voice of Yax); Mark Rhino Smith (voice of Officer McHorn); Raymond Persi (voice of Flash); and Shakira (voice of Gazelle).

Zootopia 2 has been nominated for 7 Annie Awards, including Best Feature, Best FX - Feature (Le Joyce Tong, Shamintha Kalamba Arachchi, Dimitre Berberov, Chris Carignan, Cristiana Covone), Best Character Animation - Feature (Tony Smeed), Best Music - Feature (Shakira, Ed Sheeran, Blake Slatkin, Michael Giacchino), Best Production Design - Feature (Cory Loftis, Limei Z. Hshieh), Best Storyboarding - Feature (Hikari Toriumi), and Best Writing - Feature (Jared Bush). 

“It’s been an absolute joy to reteam with so many actors who made the first film so special, and so exciting to expand the world with our phenomenal new cast members,” said director/writer Bush (chief creative officer for Walt Disney Animation Studios). “I can’t wait for audiences to see what other surprises we have in store in this brand-new adventure.”

To learn more about Zootopia 2, check out AWN’s coverage, here. 

Additional Film Nominations:

Best Feature-Independent

A Magnificent Life (Mediawan, What the Prod and Bidibul Productions)

Summary: A French adult animated biographical drama film written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. It follows the life of 60-year-old Marcel Pagnol, an acclaimed playwright, novelist and filmmaker, who is visited by a vision of his childhood self.

Coverage: 53rd Annual Annie Awards Nominations Announced

Arco (Remembers, MountainA France and France 3 Cinéma)

Summary: The science fantasy film follows a ten-year-old boy in the year 2932 who is jealous that his parents and sister can time travel while he has to wait at home since children are not allowed to time travel until they turn twelve. In the night, he steals his sister's time traveling cape and gemstone and attempts to travel to the time of the dinosaurs by flying like his family. In the year 2075, Iris, a ten-year-old imaginative girl, is sitting outside her school drawing when she sees a rainbow. She follows it to its end and discovers Arco has crashed. The two children then embark on an adventure to get Arco back home. The film is directed by Ugo Bienvenu.

To learn more about Arco, check out AWN’s coverage here.

I am Frankelda (Cinema Fantasma, Warner Bros. Discovery, Woo Films and Cine Vendaval)

Summary: In 1866, in Monte de video, Mexico, Francisca Imelda - the youngest daughter of a wealthy family - dreams of becoming a horror writer. Following the death of her mother, María Concepción, Francisca is raised by her strict grandmother, who disapproves of her literary interests. Her grandmother seeks to mold her into a refined young lady of high society. Despite this, Francisca continues to write, crafting a tale about a prince named Herneval in a parallel kingdom called Topus Terrenus. Unbeknownst to Francisca, her story unfolds in real-time within an alternate dimension. The film is directed by brothers Arturo Ambriz and Roy Ambriz.

To learn more about I am Frankelda, check out AWN’s coverage here.

Lost In Starlight (Netflix and Climax Studio)

Summary: Set in 2050, the film tells the story of an astronaut and a musician who find each other among the stars, guided by their hopes and love for one another. But things become complicated when the astronaut, unable to forget her mother who was lost in space, decides to go on a mission that could risk her relationship and her life. Han Ji-won directs and co-writes with Kang Hyun-joo. 

To learn more about Lost in Starlight, check out AWN’s coverage here.

Scarlet (Studio CHIZU)

Summary: Directed by Mamoru Hosoda, Scarlet centers on a princess whose father was murdered and she, after being poisoned by the same perpetrator, finds herself in a type of purgatory, thirsting for vengeance. Inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet, the film follows princess Scarlet on her journey to damn the man who killed her father to hell before he has the chance to reach the Infinite Land. Along the way, she meets a man from another time named Hijiri who teaches her the importance of empathy and love over hate.

• Mamoru Hosoda Talks ‘Scarlet,’ ‘Wolf Children’ and the Beauty of Growing Up
• Some Thoughts on Mamoru Hosoda’s ‘Scarlet’
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

Television

Bob's Burgers (20th Television Animation)

Now in its 16th season, the Emmy Award-winning series Bob’s Burgers centers on the working-class Belcher family - parents Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Roberts) and their three children, Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Louise (Kristen Schall) - who run a seaside hamburger restaurant in New Jersey and often go on adventures and interact with eccentric members of their community. Larry Murphy stars as Uncle Teddy.

The show was recentlyrenewed through Season 19; it’s produced by 20th Television Animation, and created and executive produced by Loren Bouchard and co-developed by Jim Dauterive. Nora Smith; Dan Fybel; Rich Rinaldi; Greg Thompson; Jon Schroeder; Steven Davis; Scott Jacobson; Holly Schlesinger; Wendy Molyneux; and Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin also serve as executive producers.

The episode “Grand Pre-Pre-Pre Opening” has been nominated for Best TV/Media - Mature and “Don't Worry Be Hoopy” for Best Voice Acting - TV/Media. 

To learn more about Bob’s Burgers, check out AWN’s coverage, here. 

Common Side Effects (Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions)

Adult Swim’s new animated series, Common Side Effects, dives into the world of pharmaceuticals, wellness culture, and unexpected consequences with a unique blend of dark humor and surreal animation. Created by Joe Bennett (Scavengers Reign) and Steve Hely (The Office, Veep), the series explores what happens when an incredible new drug, made from a mushroom, disrupts the industry, society, and the lives of those who discover it. The show currently streams on HBO Max.

The half-hour series follows Marshall and Frances, two former high school lab partners who share a secret: Marshall has discovered the world’s greatest medicine, a mushroom that can heal almost anything. But getting it out into the world won’t be easy – the DEA, big pharma, and international businessmen are all on the chase to stop them.

Bandera and Green Street Pictures produce for Adult Swim. Mike Judge and Greg Daniels (King of the Hill) executive produce.

The show has received 5 Annie Awards nominations, including Best TV/Media - Mature (Episode: “Pilot”), Best Direction - TV/Media (Episode: “Cliff’s Edge” - Vincent Tsui), Best Music - TV/Media (Episode: “Lakeshore Limited” - Nicolas Snyder), Best Writing - TV/Media (Episode: “Pilot” - Joe Bennett, Steve Hely), and Best Editorial - TV/Media (Episode: “Raid” -  Tony Christopherson, Joie Lim). 

“Some of the best moments in the show are small, quiet character interactions that don’t even have dialogue,” says Bennett. “Those moments make the world feel lived-in and real. The comedy comes from those real situations rather than punchlines.”

• The Dark, Comic World of Steve Hely’s and Joe Bennett’s ‘Common Side Effects’
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

Haha, You Clowns (Williams Street Productions) 

Created by Joe Cappa, Haha, You Clowns celebrates wholesome family programming; it follows the Campbell boys, three doting teenagers and their tenderhearted dad, as they learn to navigate life in the wake of their mother’s death, sensing her presence in everyday adventures. The series premiered on October 19 on Adult Swim, the next day on Hulu.

The series’ episode “Duncan Holds a Baby” has been nominated for the Annie Awards’ Best TV/Media - Mature. 

“Making my own stuff, I’ve learned that there are many animation processes to perfect and really convey the story, convey who these characters are, and punch up the humor,” says Cappa. “You go from storyboarding to designing the characters to animating them, then voicing them. And you can always go back and change one of the steps. You have the time to go back and plus things up. And voicing is one of those things. The first three episodes of the Adult Swim SMALLS shorts I made, once I saw them moving, I went back and revoiced them, making sure that everything seemed to be working correctly. Within that process, I discovered their voices and how they talked. I’ve voiced all the characters of all the shorts I made leading up to this series. It’s been fun experimenting with characters.”

• From TikTok to Adult Swim: Joe Cappa Explains His Path to ‘Haha, You Clowns’
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

Il Baracchino (Luckyred, Megadrago, and Prime Video)

Il Baracchino is an Italian adult animated comedy drama series created by Nicolò Cuccì and Salvo Di Paola. The show follows Claudia, a young aspiring art director who decides to save the titular stand-up comedy club from closure. The series is produced by Lucky Red and Megadrago.

The cast includes Pilar Fogliati as Claudia, Pasquale Petrolo as the club owner Maurizio, Salvo Di Paola as the club's handyman Gerri, Edoardo Ferrario as Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci, and Luca Ravenna as a smoker pidgeon Luca.

The episode “Claudia entra in un caffè” has been nominated for the Annie Awards’ Best TV/Media - Mature. 

To learn more about Il Baracchino, check out AWN’s coverage, here. 

South Park (Comedy Central)

The longtime fan-favorite animated sitcom South Park, created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Comedy Central in 1997, revolves around four boys - Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick - and their adventures in and around the titular Colorado town.

The 28th season premiered this past year and, over the last nearly 30 years, the show has received numerous accolades including five Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. To add to the recognition, its episode “Sermon on the 'Mount” has been nominated for the Annie Awards’ Best TV/Media - Mature. 

To learn more about South Park, check out AWN’s coverage, here. 

My Melody & Kuromi (Sanrio Company and Netflix)

Just in time to celebrate My Melody’s 50th anniversary and Kuromi’s 20th, Netflix debuted the new stop-motion animation series My Melody & Kuromi this past July.

In the show, My Melody runs a cake shop in her hometown of Mariland. Her shop is always filled to the brim with customers — and delicious desserts. Meanwhile, Kuromi’s nearby candy shop is always empty, which makes her furious. She simply can’t compete with My Melody and her delicious flavor combos. As the two face off in a sweets-making contest judged by renowned pastry chef Pistachio, they’re suddenly faced with a crisis that endangers the whole town. If Kuromi can set aside her anger toward her self-proclaimed rival for long enough, can she and My Melody team up to save Mariland? 

Based on Sanrio’s characters, My Melody & Kuromi is produced by TORUKU from WIT Studio from a screenplay by Shuko Nemoto. The series is directed by Tomoki Misato, known for the stop-motion shorts My Little Goat and Atashidake o mite, as well as the TV series Pui Pui Molcar. AWN chatted with Misato about the series and the meticulous planning that went into making this magical, hand-crafted, and truly “kawaii” show to celebrate two beloved Sanrio characters. 

The episode “All For Our Best Friend” is nominated for the Annie Award Best TV/Media - Children.

“There were a lot of difficult parts about the series,” says Misato. “Compared to CG animation and 2D animation, stop-motion animation is the most analog and limiting technique in terms of production. However, when creating the storyboards, I told the staff to ignore the fact that it will be stop-motion animation. That way, they wouldn't easily assume we couldn't do any over-the-top effects.”

He continues, “As a result, we got wonderful storyboards packed with everything they wanted to see. Then I discussed how to film this with stop-motion animation with the cinematographer. There were many obstacles, but my confidence grew once I saw that we could actually overcome them if we tried.”

• ‘My Melody & Kuromi’ Celebrates Sanrio’s Legacy with ‘Kawaii’ Stop-Motion
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

Spice Frontier (Steamroller Animation)

Steamroller Animation’s Spice Frontier centers on an excursion to the desert planet Veltegar, which goes awry when the six-member crew crash lands. The team must work together to repair their ship before the planet’s mysterious inhabitants catch wind of their arrival.

Spice Frontier features flat graphic characters placed against a more rendered painterly background, with Unreal Engine at the center of production. The independently financed pilot production required as many as 60 artists.

The episode “Escape From Veltegar” has received two Annie Awards nominations: Best TV/Media - Children and Best FX - TV/Media (Ben Rische, Tobias Anker, Van Tismo, Thibault Francois, Yung Jie Huang). 

“It’s with deep humility that I celebrate this incredible achievement, made possible by our talented crew and the love and dedication they poured into every frame of this project,” said Jalil Sadool, creator and director of Spice Frontier and CCO at Steamroller. “I can’t quite put into words everything I’m feeling right now…the overwhelming excitement of what we’ve accomplished with such a passionate team. This moment reassures me that we live in a time where high-quality filmmaking is no longer reserved for massive budgets.”

To learn more about Spice Frontier, check out AWN’s coverage, here. 

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon Animation Studios and Point Grey Pictures)

The 2D series – which acts as a bridge between Jeff Rowe’s 3DCG feature Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and its upcoming sequel set to release later in 2026 – explores the adventures of everyone's favorite pizza-loving teenage heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC. Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple.

Produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2012 Series]). The second and final season debuted this past December.

The episode “Rise of the Night Ninja” has been nominated for three Annie Awards, including Best TV/Media - Children, Best Direction - TV/Media (JJ Conway, Kevin Molina-Ortiz), and Best Storyboarding - TV/Media (Richard Chi, Matthew Kim, Sheldon Vella, Lyndsay Simpson). 

Yost, who worked on Lloyd Goldfine’s 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, notes, “The screenwriters, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Jeff Rowe created something so fun and really pushed the idea that this is basically Super Bad but with mutant kids. And we wanted to continue that. We wanted to honor that and keep that heart going more than anything else. We've got action, mutants, and an army of evil robots. But, really, the focus of the show is on these kids, individually and together.”

• ‘Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Brings Mutant Teen Mayhem to 2D
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here 

The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball (Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe)

The Amazing World of Gumball, an animated sitcom created and directed by Ben Bocquelet, entertained Cartoon Network viewers for eight years with wild multi-media visuals as chaotic as its eclectic characters. The series revolved around the life of a 12-year-old cat named Gumball Watterson and his frequent shenanigans in the fictional city of Elmore, California, accompanied by his adopted goldfish brother and best friend Darwin. Made up of traditional animation, puppetry, CGI, stop-motion, Flash animation, and live-action, The Amazing World of Gumball proved that consistently good storytelling could exist in an inconsistent world. 

Building on the success of that show is the all-new The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, produced by Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. As we head back to Elmore, reality bends and family life gets weird. Gumball pulls his brother Darwin, pink sister bunny Anais and the whole town into adventures - from fighting evil fast food to dealing with an AI crushing on his mom. The show's so wild, it needed a new name.

The new series has been nominated for two Annie Awards. Its episode “The Rewrite” is nominated for Best TV/Media - Children and “The Amadain” for Best Voice Acting - TV/Media (Alkaio Thiele, Character: Gumball Watterson).

“We never stopped having good ideas for Gumball,” notes Bocquelet, “And we got to work with a lot of new artists we admire. We’re lucky that Gumball is a show where we can include anyone with any animation style or illustrative style and we got to work with some really cool people this year.” 

• ‘The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball’: Animation Without Rules
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

Wylde Pak (Nickelodeon Animation Studios and Jam Filled Entertainment)

Gamer Lily loves making chaos while wielding sticks as swords in the swamp. Her half sibling Jack likes playing life safe behind his camera, with no more than one sprinkle’s worth of risk. But as the two kids learn to navigate their blended, multi-generational Korean American family dynamics – complete with seal riding – Lily and Jack find comfort in their differences and learn from each other’s strengths. Wylde Pak, distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution, is the second short from Nickelodeon’s Intergalactic Shorts Program to be greenlit into a series and has been nominated for an Annie Award for Best TV/Media - Children.

Now available to watch on Nickelodeon, the messy and heartwarming new series from Kid Cosmic’s Paul Watling and The Loud House’s Kyle Marshall began, as many good ideas do, over a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. 

“Kyle and I would meet every other week at Little Dom's in Los Feliz,” explains Watling. “We've worked together for a long time. We're both from Canada, came down to L.A. around the same time and would meet up and talk shop. We shared a lot of the same interests, philosophies, and passion for animation. So, we started developing ideas together and that's essentially where Wylde Pak was born, one night over spaghetti and meatballs.”

Watling and Marshall, who co-created and executive produce the Nickelodeon Animation 2D series, also shared both becoming fathers, and much of Wylde Pak’s storytelling stems from their own experiences navigating the beautiful, frightening and often nonsensical world of parenting. 

“Paul became a stepfather, and my wife had given birth to our first son,” shares Marshall. “We were talking about how we had no idea what we were doing and how we were always waiting for the adult to come in the room and save us. We were swapping stories and situations, and we just thought there's something there to mine for ideas and maybe we could have our own unique spin on family dynamics.”

• ‘Wylde Pak’: The Good, The Bad and The Frightening Dynamics of a Blended Family
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

Best Special Production

A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty or Nice (Nickelodeon Animation Studio and Jam Filled Entertainment)

Summary: Desperate to get off Santa's Naughty List before Christmas, Lincoln resorts to hacking into the North Pole computers and putting himself on the nice list. But when the hack gets out of control, he ends up reversing the Naughty/Nice lists around the world and turning the North Pole itself Naughty. Lincoln enlists his family to go to the North Pole and try to fix the mess he made. Teaming up with his new frenemy, Duncan, the elf who first put him on the naughty list, Lincoln and the Louds must battle a now evil Santa and his minions to save Christmas. The film is directed by Darin McGowan.

To learn more about A Loud House Christmas Movie: Naughty or Nice, check out AWN’s coverage here.

Adult Swim's The Elephant (Titmouse and Williams Street)

Summary: Created by Ian Jones-Quartey, Patrick McHale, Rebecca Sugar, and Pendleton Ward, The Elephant is a three-act narrative experiment in which each creator or pair of creators develops a segment independently, without seeing what the others are making. Those acts are then woven into a single story.

To learn more about Adult Swim's The Elephant, check out AWN’s coverage here.

Not Just a Goof (Venturia Animation Studios and CNEK Films LLC)

Summary: The documentary film unpacks the challenging production process and post-release cult following of the 1995 animated film A Goofy Movie, which focuses on the complicated relationship of classic Disney character Goofy and his son Max. The documentary is written, produced, shot, edited, and directed by Eric Kimelton and Christopher Ninness.

• ‘Not Just a Goof’: A Story of Fathers, Fandom, and Free-Spirited Creativity
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical (WildBrain Studios in association with Apple TV)

Summary: In Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical, the first original Peanuts musical special in 35 years, Charlie Brown loves camp. Yes, Charlie Brown actually loves something, and he is determined to make his final year at camp special. But his sister Sally, a first-time camper, is nervous and skeptical of the unfamiliar place. Just as Sally starts to warm up to the camp, Charlie Brown and the gang learn that their beloved camp is shutting down due to fewer campers joining each summer. Charlie Brown feels hopeless about losing a place that has meant so much to him and his friends, until he sets out to save it. The special is directed by Erik Wiese.

• ‘Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical’: A Creative Risk For An Important Message
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland (Lupus Films and Universal Pictures Content Group)

Summary: The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland, the animated feature based on Carys Bexington’s bestselling book which combines Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Clement Clarke Moore’s poem Twas the Night Before Christmas, follows St. Nick as he goes down the rabbit hole and meets a host of familiar characters who help him save Christmas. Can St. Nick, aided by Alice, the Mad Hatter, and March Hare, show the Queen of Hearts the true meaning of Christmas and save the day before it’s too late? The film is directed by Peter Baynton.

To learn more about The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland, check out AWN’s coverage here.

Best Short Subject

Cardboard (Locksmith Animation)

Summary: When an overwhelmed, single dad pig moves his piglets into a rundown trailer park, he fears he’s failed his family. But soon his kids create a wildly imaginative game from a simple cardboard box, and Dad has a choice: dwell on the past or join them on their intergalactic adventure. The film is written and directed by J.P. Vine.

Coverage: 53rd Annual Annie Awards Nominations Announced

Ovary-Acting (Klipp og Lim, Jante Films and Apparat Filmproduktion AB)

Summary: The stop-motion animated short film, directed by Ida Melum and written by Laura Jayne Tunbridge, follows Eva, a thirty-something woman attending her sister’s baby shower, who unexpectedly gives birth to her own reproductive organs, named Ovy, forcing her to confront whether she truly wants to have children or is influenced by societal expectations. The film blends humor, song, and surreal imagery to explore themes of fertility, autonomy, and womanhood.

Coverage: 53rd Annual Annie Awards Nominations Announced

Pillowzzz (Animoshe)

Summary: Terry is a clumsy and violent troll, haunted by his past and looking for redemption for his soul. Soft and lovable dwarves, whom he treats rudely, require him to change his attitude and they win a revolutionary but controversial rescue operation.The film is directed by Moshe Ben-Avraham.

Coverage: 53rd Annual Annie Awards Nominations Announced

Snow Bear (The Art of Aaron Blaise)

Summary: The short, a compilation of 11,000 drawings all made by director Aaron Blaise, tells the story of a lonely polar bear in an unforgiving environment on his quest to find a friend. While the bear is initially successful in creating himself a friend out of snow, the weather warms and the bear’s time with his frozen friend begins to shorten.

• ‘Snow Bear’: How Aaron Blaise Lost Love, Then Found It Again
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

The Girl Who Cried Pearls (National Film Board of Canada)

Summary: The latest film from the Oscar-nominated pair Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski since their 2019 stop-motion short, Gymnasia, tells a haunting and romantic tale that takes place in a smokey, snowy earth-tone-covered Montreal, at the dawn of the 20th century. In the film, a poor boy falls in love with a girl, trapped in a sorrowful home, whose tears turn into pearls. The boy sells them to a ruthless pawnbroker, who becomes obsessed with the value of the pearls, which smell of the sea. Tempted by greed, the boy must choose between his love for the girl and the fortune he could obtain. The choice could damn his soul.

• Chris Lavis Talks ‘The Girl Who Cried Pearls’
• National Film Board of Canada EP Christine Noël on ‘The Girl Who Cried Pearls’ and Shaping the Future of Animation
• Additional coverage on AWN can be found here

Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.