The Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s professional global honorary society, announced the nominees for the 24th Annual VES Awards.

The 24th Annual VES Awards encompass 25 categories across film, television, special venue projects, technological innovation, student projects, and more. Recognized as the craft’s marquee awards celebration, the VES Awards will be held on February 25, 2026 at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

From 20th Century Studios and Lightstorm Entertainment, Avatar: Fire and Ash is this year’s most-nominated project with ten nominations, including in the key category of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. Among animated contenders, there is a three-way tie for top nominations – with Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation’s KPop Demon Hunters, Disney and Pixar’s Elio, and Disney’s Zootopia 2 each receiving five nominations. Netflix’s Stranger Things, HBO’s The Last of Us, and Apple TV+ and BBC Studios’ Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age are tied atop the episodic field, with four nominations each.

Nominees were selected by VES members worldwide over the weekend via the Society’s Global Nomination Event, which hosted 46 in-person and 14 virtual judging panels. The 60 peer-led judging panels in seven worldwide regions – Asia, Europe, India, Oceania, and three in North America – show the Society’s global reach and engagement.

“Visual effects artists and producers are at the forefront of cinematic artistry and technological innovation, whether their work is being seen on the big screen in a movie theater, on the device in your pocket, or in a special venue setting,” said VES Board Chair, Kim Davidson. “We’re thrilled to celebrate all of this year’s nominees, and we’re grateful to our member volunteers from around the world who make our rigorous peer review process possible.”

“The next generation of creators is advancing visual storytelling through bold ideas, emotional depth, and technical craft,” said Diana Colella, Executive Vice President of Media & Entertainment at Autodesk, sponsor of the VES Student Award. “This year’s student film submissions showcase the creative vision and incredible skill of up-and-coming filmmakers and visual effects artists. Congratulations to all of the student nominees.”

As previously announced, comedy duo Randy and Jason Sklar (the Sklar Brothers) will return to host the 24th Annual VES Awards for the second consecutive year. This year’s special honorees will include acclaimed film producer Jerry Bruckheimer receiving the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, and Wētā Workshop co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Sir Richard Taylor receiving the VES Visionary Award.

Final voting takes place January 26-Feburary 8, 2026.

Below is the full list of nominees for the 24th Annual VES Awards:

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

F1: The Movie

• Ryan Tudhope
• Nikeah Forde
• Robert Harrington
• Nicolas Chevallier
• Keith Alfred Dawson

Jurassic World: Rebirth

• David Vickery
• Carlos Ciudad
• Steve Aplin
• Charmaine Chan
• Neil Corbould, VES

The Lost Bus

• Charlie Noble
• Gavin Round
• David Zaretti
• Russell Bowen
• Brandon K. McLaughlin

Avatar: Fire and Ash

• Richard Baneham
• Peter Litvack
• Eric Saindon
• Nicky Muir
• Steve Ingram

How To Train Your Dragon

• Christian Manz
• Christopher Raimo
• Glen McIntosh
• Glenn Melenhorst
• Terry Palmer

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Dongji Rescue

• Tim Crosbie
• Celeste Chen
• Christian Sjöstedt
• Lea Benjovitz

A House of Dynamite

• Chris Harvey
• Dione Wood
• Jon Mitchell
• Matthew Lane

Warfare

• Simon Stanley-Clamp
• Kaley Edwards
• Andrew Kinnear
• Samir Ansari
• Ryan Conder

Sinners

• Michael Ralla
• James Alexander
• Nick Marshall
• Espen Nordahl
• Donnie Dean

After the Hunt

• Fabio Cerrito
• Virginia Cefaly
• Marco Fiorani Parenzi
• Maura Manfredi

OUTSTANDING ANIMATION IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

The Bad Guys 2

• Pierre Perifel
• Damon Ross
• Matt Baer
• Benjamin Willis

KPop Demon Hunters

• Joshua Beveridge
• Jacky Priddle
• Benjamin Hendricks
• Clara Chan

Zootopia 2

• Gregory Smith
• Laurie Au
• Marlon West
• Shweta Viswanathan

In Your Dreams

• Sacha Kapijimpanga
• Carey Smith
• Nicola Lavender
• Steve Pilcher

Elio

• Claudia Chung Sanii
• Mary Alice Drumm
• Harley Jessup
• Dave Quirus

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

Andor; “Who Are You?”

• Mohen Leo
• TJ Falls
• Scott Pritchard
• Olivier Beaulieu
• Luke Murphy

It: Welcome to Derry; “Winter Fire”

• Daryl Sawchuk
• Steve Dellerson
• Pier Lefebvre
• Steven Tether
• Darcy Callaghan

The Last of Us; “Through the Valley”

• Alex Wang
• Fiona Campbell Westgate
• Nick Epstein
• Philip Engström
• Joel Whist

Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; “The Big Freeze”

• Russell Dodgson
• Tracey Gibbons
• Francois Dumoulin
• Gavin McKenzie

Stranger Things; “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up”

Betsy Paterson

Tessa Roehl

Michael Maher Jr.

Martin Hill

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

Man vs Baby; “Chapter One”

• Rob Duncan
• Ashlee Turner
• Jean-Nicolas Costa
• Adrian Eugene Daniel Williams

The Residence; “The Fall of the House of Usher”

• Seth Hill
• Tesa Kubicek
• John Nelson
• Gabriel Vargas

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon; “Costa Da Morte”

• Jao M’Changama
• Justine Paynat-Sautivet
• Sébastien Voisin
• Xavier Allard
• Pau Costa Moeller

Severance; “Hello, Ms. Cobel”

• Eric Leven
• Sean Findley
• Brian Holligan
• Radost Ridlen

Death By Lightning; “The Man from Ohio”

• Rainer Gombos
• Steve Kullback
• Marko Ljubez
• David Ramos

OUTSTANDING VISUAL ARTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT

Ghost of Yōtei

• Jason Connell
• Matt Vainio
• Joanna Wang
• Jasmin Patry

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

• Hideo Kojima
• Yoji Shinkawa
• Shota Hirasawa

Doom: The Dark Ages

• Todd Boyce
• Andrew Willis
• Ian Malerich
• Derek Best

South of Midnight

• Ian Mac Gregor
• Yasmeen Leclerc
• Petro Kosariekov
• Connor Bugni

Battlefield 6

• Chris Bayol
• Sean Tomek
• Skye White
• Jacob Bergman

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL

Coors Light; “Slow Monday”

• Bruno Fukumothi
• Ella Glazer
• David Fleet
• Martino Madeddu

BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”

• Tom Raynor
• Helen Tang
• Jack Harris
• Alex Kulikov

Virgin Media; “Trunk Trucker”

• Sebastian Caldwell
• Larisa Covaciu
• Ben Cronin
• Alex Grey

Columbia Sportswear; “Engineered for Whatever”

• Kamen Markov
• Alexia Paterson
• David Lochhead
• Henrique Campanha

Battlefield 6; “It’s Good to Be Back”

• Michael Ralla
• James Alexander
• Brian Creasey
• Luca Pelegatta

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

Zootopia: Better Zoogether!

• Rich Enders
• Kirk Bodyfelt
• Darin Hollings
• Darren Simpson

Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment

• Alan Woods
• Maximilian McNair MacEwan
• Jason Fox
• Iris Chailloux

Disney Tales of Magic

• Tim Lutkin
• Patrick Aigouy
• Adrien Mourey
• Lydia Caplan

Stranger Things: Escape the Dark

• Julien Héry
• Antoine Sitruk
• Simon Lecavalier
• Martin Hesselink

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

A Minecraft Movie; Queen Malgosha

• Kevin Estey
• Fabio Leporelli
• Matteo Stirati
• Nick Grace

Lilo & Stitch; Stitch

• Matthew Shumway
• Claus Pedersen
• Xiying Zhai
• Enrique Mateo-Sagasta

Superman; Krypto the Superdog

• Loic Mireault
• Martine Chartrand
• Marianne Morency
• Matthias Schoenegger

Avatar: Fire and Ash; Varang: Leader of the Ash Clan

• Stephen Clee
• Stuart Adcock
• Keven Norris
• Joseph Kim

OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Elio; Ooooo the Liquid Supercomputer

• Catherine Luo
• Anna-Christine Lykkegaard
• Ferdi Scheepers
• Julian Teo

Elio; Glordon

• Marco Burbano
• Edgar Rodriguez
• Ben Rush
• Patrick Yu Wang

Zootopia 2; Gary De’Snake

• Adam Green
• Jennifer Stratton
• Christoffer Pedersen
• Jesse Erickson

KPop Demon Hunters; Rumi

• Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee
• Andrea Centeno
• 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
• Chloe Ostiguy
• Jonathan Bourdua

It: Welcome to Derry; “Winter Fire;” Pennywise

• Théo Perronard
• Yan Morin-Dubuisson
• Yan Detang
• Jonathan Fleming-Bock

Stranger Things; “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up;” Mindflayer

• James Moore
• Layne Howe
• Shawn Warawa
• Yoshihiro Harimoto

Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; Female Smilodon

• Alvise Avati
• Marc-André Coulombe
• Youen Leclerc
• Andrea De Martis

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Tron: Ares; Dillinger’s Grid City

• Jared Michael
• Noor Valibhoy
• Cody Gramstad
• Stefan Litterini

The Lost Bus; The Wildfires of Roe Road

• Jamie Haydock
• Francesco Ferraresi
• Sergei Konorev
• Frederick Vallee

Avatar: Fire and Ash; Bridgehead Industrial City

• Gianluca Pizzaia
• Steve Bevins
• Dziga Kaiser
• Zsolt Máté

The Lost Bus; Feather River Canyon by the Pulga Bridge

• David Schulz
• Mareike Loges
• Björn Markgraf
• Philipp Hafellner

The Gorge; The Bodyweb

• Daniel James Cox
• Yosuke Inomata
• Clint Rea
• Gabriel Pires

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Zootopia 2; Marsh Market

• Limei Z. Hshieh
• Alexander Nicholas Whang
• Joshua Fry
• Ryan DeYoung

Elio; The Communiverse

• Steve Arguello
• Christopher M. Burrows
• Andy Lin
• Laura Murphy

KPop Demon Hunters; Seoul

• Rafael Lescano
• Gunsik Kim
• Tyquane Wright
• Hee-Chel Nam

The Bad Guys 2; Cairo City

• John J. Lee
• Greg Hettinger
• Mikael Genachte-Le Bail
• Mayumi Shimokawa

OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODIC, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

Foundation; “A Song for the End of Everything;” Clarion Station

• Sylvain Lesaint
• Ilyes Boutemeur
• Blake Dewoody
• Benjamin Rojek

Andor; “Welcome to the Rebellion;” The Senate District

• John O’Connell
• Falk Boje
• Hasan Ilhan
• Kevin George

The Last of Us; Post-Apocalyptic Seattle

• Romain Simonnet
• Abraham Ibanez
• David Desplat
• Minguk Lee

The Residence; “Dial M for Murder;” The White House Exterior

• Gabriel Vargas
• Eric Schoellnast
• Andrew Wilkins
• Omer Gurkan

OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY

Zootopia 2

• Tyler Kupferer
• Daniel Rice
• Griselda Sastrawinata-Lemay

Avatar: Fire and Ash

• Steve Deane
• AJ Briones
• Zachary Brake
• Andrew Moffett

Tron: Ares

• Jhon Alvarado
• Michael Beaulieu
• Jayden Beveridge
• Hayley Kim

KPop Demon Hunters

• Benjamin Hendricks
• Gary H. Lee
• Randolph Lizarda
• Linh Mai Nguyen Chan

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT

Mickey 17; The Niflheim Spaceship

• Bikas Panigrahi
• Nikolai Razuev
• Ajinkya Nitin Phokmare
• Manoj Vijay Kamble

Wicked: For Good; Bison

• Marco Chau
• Giorgio Pennisi
• Sowmya Ramakumar
• Balazs Meszaros

Avatar: Fire and Ash; The Windtraders’ Gondola

• Michael Smale
• Sam Sharplin
• Joe W. Churchill
• Jacqi Dillon

Superman; The Fortress of Solitude

• Crystal Bretz
• Martin Pelissier
• Klaudio Ladavac
• Conner Wessinger

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: Fire and Ash; Simulating Pandora

• Nicholas Illingworth
• Sarah C. Farmer
• James Robinson
• Ryan Bowden

Superman; Metropolis City Destruction

• Rick Hankins
• Marcel Kern
• Eric Hollands
• Masoud Aziminajjar

The Lost Bus; Escape from Hell

• Billy Copley
• Mathieu Chardonnet
• Chetan Patkar
• David Schott

Together

• Darcy George
• Andrew Dunkerley
• Ray Leung
• Steve Oakley

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

In Your Dreams

• Stephanie McNair
• Dmitiry Kolesnik
• Stephen Paschke
• David Sellares

The Bad Guys 2

• Michael Losure
• Landon Gray
• Zachary Glynn
• Steve Avoujageli

Zootopia 2

• Sujil Sukumaran
• Stuart Griese
• Zoran Stojanoski
• Paul Carman

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

Battlefield 6

• Björn Åkerstedt
• Anders Egleus
• Kasra Kalami
• Craig Moroney

The Last of Us; “Through the Valley;” The Infected Horde

• Duarte Victorino
• Claudio Gonzalez
• Andre Castelao
• Igor Bondar

Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; The Big Freeze

• Edward Ferrysienanda
• Kevin Christensen
• Guy Schuleman
• Kevin Tarpinian

Stranger Things; “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up;” Assault on the Mindflayer

• Michael Chrobak
• Brandon James Fleet
• Yasunobu Arahori
• Hoi Ying Fung

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE

Avatar: Fire and Ash; Bridgehead Industrial City

• Ziad Shureih
• Stefano Oggeri
• Jaume Creus Costabella
• Hugo Debat-Burkarth

F1: The Movie; Modern Race and POV Footage

• Hugo Gauvreau
• Chris Davies
• Raushan Raj
• Amaury Rospars

Superman; Fights and Metropolis City Destruction

• Can Chang
• Nicolas Caillier
• Bryan Smeall
• Elona Musha

Avatar: Fire and Ash; The Wind Traders, Bridgehead, Rivers and Ocean

• Alex Klaricich
• Gianfranco Sgura
• Brad Floyd
• Ari Ross

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE

The Residence; “Pilot”

• Spencer Hecox
• Gunnar Heiss
• Alexander Greenberg
• Eric Schoellnast

Stranger Things; “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up;” The Abyss and Vecna’s Face

• Ben Roberts
• Rachel E. Herbert
• Don Bradford
• Ken Lam

The Last of Us; “Through the Valley;” A Storm of Ice, Fire and Flesh

• Tobias Wiesner
• Mark Julien
• Owen Longstaff
• Brendan Naylor

Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age

• Puff Pisanwalerd
• Jean-Baptiste Noyau
• Marion Nove-Josserand
• Sue Nelson

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL

Disney; “Best Christmas Ever”

• Hudson Martins
• Luke Warpus
• Jinhui Wang
• Alex Miller

BMW; “Heart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus”

• Alex Kulikov
• Jack Harris
• Adam Chabane
• Nicola Borsari

Virgin Media; “Trunk Trucker”

• Alex Grey
• Sebastian Caldwell
• Nicola Borsari
• Giacomo Cavaletti

Genesis; “No Old Ideas”

• Greg McKneally
• Christian Block
• Alberto Pizzocchero
• Alessandro Granella

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT

Gen V; “Bags”

• Hudson Kenny
• Curtis Carlson
• John Koyama
• Bruno Larizza

Andor; “Who Are You?”

• Luke Murphy
• Dean Ford
• Jody Eltham
• Darrell Guyon

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD

Win or Lose; Detached Facial Features

• David Munier
• Ana Gabriela Lacaze
• Jonathan Page
• Anna-Christine Lykkegaard

Mickey 17; REVIZE

• John Bastian
• Ben Ward
• Thomas Rowntree
• Robert Beveridge

Avatar: Fire and Ash; BodyOpt

• Christoph Sprenger
• Tobias Mack
• Florian Fernandez
• Niall Ryan

Elio; Real-Time High Fidelity Animation System Using Signed Distance Functions

• Andrew Butts
• Trent Crow
• Anna-Christine Lykkegaard
• Catherine Luo

Avatar: Fire and Ash; Kora Fire Toolset

• Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin
• John Edholm
• Murali Ramachari
• Aleksandr Isakov

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT

Au Delà des Mots

• Antoine Barbannaud
• Leandro Leijnen
• Timothé Vergught
• Mathis De Sauvecanne

Flying From War

• Ciara Borgards

Two Kings

• Eliot Hervier Blondel
• Mathieu Keraudran
• Adrian Delmotte
• Jonas Lopez Del Castillo

Azimuth

• Thomas Teisseire
• Cassandre Cinier
• Martin Bluy
• Mathis Giraudeau

A Sparrow’s Song

• Tobias Eckerlin
• Vincent Maurer
• Elias Weber
• Lilli-Luisa Heckmann

The 23rd Annual VES Awards will take place on February 25, 2026.

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