(L to R) MICHAEL B. JORDAN as Smoke, WUNMI MOSAKU as Annie, HAILEE STEINFELD as Mary, MICHAEL B. JORDAN as Stack, MILES CATON as Sammie and OMAR BENSON MILLER as Cornbread in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “SINNERS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
(L to R) MICHAEL B. JORDAN as Smoke, WUNMI MOSAKU as Annie, HAILEE STEINFELD as Mary, MICHAEL B. JORDAN as Stack, MILES CATON as Sammie and OMAR BENSON MILLER as Cornbread in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “SINNERS,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. © 2025 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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

Encompassing 25 categories across film, television, technology, gaming, special venue, student projects, and more, the night’s biggest winner was Avatar: Fire and Ash, which took home seven awards in total, including the top prize of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. Additional wins for Avatar: Fire and Ash included Outstanding Character in a Photoreal Feature for Varang (played by Oona Chaplin, who was on hand at tonight’s awards as a presenter), Outstanding CG Cinematography, and the Emerging Technology Award, given to the Kora Fire Toolset.

In the animation categories, KPop Demon Hunters led the night with three awards, including the top prize of Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature, and Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature for Rumi.

Rounding out the top category wins, Sinners won the award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age won for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode, and BMW’s Heart of Joy: Meet Okto the Octopus won for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial.

Additional winners at the 24th Annual VES Awards included the video game Ghost of Yōtei (Outstanding Visual Arts in a Real-Time Project), Andor (Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project), and Azimuth (Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project).

This year’s VES Awards hosts were comedy duo Randy and Jason Sklar (the Sklar Brothers), returning to this role for the second consecutive year. Acclaimed film producer Jerry Bruckheimer was honored with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by his longtime collaborator, F1: The Movie director Joseph Kosinski. Wētā Workshop co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Sir Richard Taylor received this year’s VES Visionary Award, presented by Adam Savage.

In his acceptance speech, Jerry Bruckheimer addressed the artists in the room, saying: “You create the magic. You create the things that people go to theaters for. You’re the people that we dream about when we go to the movies, when we go into that dark space in the theater, and the work that you do is truly phenomenal.”

Sir Richard Taylor shared in his acceptance speech: “Thank you to the VES for this honor. It is a privilege to be part of this remarkable community and a joy to be with you all here on this special night. And if I can leave one thought with you, as I say to our team, there’s only four tenets by which I operate, and that is simply: love of oneself, love of what you do, love of who you do it with, and love of who you do it for. If you can strike those four in your life, you’re doing pretty well.”

“The VES is honored to recognize brilliant artistry and technological innovation across a wide range of disciplines,” said VES Board Chair, Kim Davidson. “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!”

The 24th Annual VES Awards.
Visual Effects Society

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
The 23rd Annual VES Awards were held on February 25, 2026.

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