{"id":319433,"date":"2026-02-27T03:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T03:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/319433\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T03:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T03:42:16","slug":"from-avatar-to-kpop-demon-hunters-the-2026-ves-awards-winners-in-full","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/319433\/","title":{"rendered":"From Avatar to KPop Demon Hunters, the 2026 VES Awards winners in full"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just as people debate why CGI looks worse<\/a> today than in the past on social media, the Visual Effects Society’s 24th Annual VES Awards have demonstrated the massive contribution that VFX make to movies and series.<\/p>\n

Hosted by comedy duo Randy and Jason Sklar at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, the awards covered 25 categories across film, television, technology, gaming, special venue, student projects and more.<\/p>\n

There was little surprise to see Avatar: Fire and Ash dominate with seven awards including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, which is widely seen as the top prize. But the night was also another massive success for KPop Demon Hunters. Could that be a sign ahead of its bid for the Best Animation Oscar<\/a> next month?<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\n

\"Avatar\n<\/p>\n

Avatar Fire and Ash won seven VES Awards (Image credit: \u00a0Lightstorm <\/a>Entertainment\u00a0)<\/p>\n

The 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\u2019s awards as a presenter), Outstanding CG Cinematography, and the Emerging Technology Award, given to the Kora Fire Toolset.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the animation<\/a> categories, KPop Demon Hunters took the top prize of Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature, as well as Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature. The award for Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature went the HUNTR\/X trio’s half-demon lead singer Rumi, who’s voiced by Arden Cho when speaking and EJAE when singing (see Arden’s hopes for the KPop Demon Hunters sequel<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Heart of Joy: Meet Okto the Octopus won for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial.<\/p>\n

Additional winners at the 24th Annual VES Awards included the video game Ghost of Y\u014dtei (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).<\/p>\n

Sign up to Creative Bloq’s daily newsletter, which brings you the latest news and inspiration from the worlds of art, design and technology.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Jerry\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Visual Effects Society)<\/p>\n

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer (pictured) received the VES Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by his longtime collaborator, F1: The Movie director Joseph Kosinski. W\u0113t\u0101 Workshop co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Sir Richard Taylor received this year\u2019s VES Visionary Award.<\/p>\n

In his acceptance speech, Jerry Bruckheimer addressed the artists in the room, saying: \u201cYou 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to celebrate the HUNTR\/X trio’s success? Check out the KPop Demon Hunters art book<\/a> and the range of KPop Demon Hunter merch<\/a> available.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

We also have a KPop Demon Hunter art tutorial.<\/a><\/p>\n

2026 VES Awards winners in full<\/p>\n

\n

\"Avatar\n<\/p>\n

Avatar Fire and Ash took the top award (Image credit: \u00a0Lightstorm <\/a>Entertainment\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature<\/p>\n

Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/p>\n

Richard Baneham
Peter Litvack
Eric Saindon
Nicky Muir
Steve Ingram<\/p>\n

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature<\/p>\n

Sinners<\/p>\n

Michael Ralla
James Alexander
Nick Marshall
Espen Nordahl
Donnie Dean<\/p>\n

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature<\/p>\n

KPop Demon Hunters<\/p>\n

Joshua Beveridge
Jacky Priddle
Benjamin Hendricks
Clara Chan<\/p>\n

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode<\/p>\n

Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; \u201cThe Big Freeze\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell Dodgson
Tracey Gibbons
Fran\u00e7ois Dumoulin
Gavin McKenzie<\/p>\n

\n

\"KPop\n<\/p>\n

KPop Demon Hunters took three awards in the animation categories (Image credit: Netflix)<\/p>\n

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode<\/p>\n

The Residence; \u201cThe Fall of the House of Usher\u201d<\/p>\n

Seth Hill
Tesa Kubicek
John Nelson
Gabriel Vargas<\/p>\n

Outstanding Visual Arts in a Real-time Project<\/p>\n

Ghost of Y\u014dtei<\/p>\n

Jason Connell
Matt Vainio
Joanna Wang
Jasmin Patry<\/p>\n

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial<\/p>\n

BMW; \u201cHeart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Raynor
Helen Tang
Jack Harris
Alex Kulikov<\/p>\n

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project<\/p>\n

The Wizard of Oz at Sphere<\/p>\n

Ben Grossmann
Tamara Watts Kent
Dr. Irfan Essa
Matt Dougan
Glenn Derry<\/p>\n

Outstanding Character in a Photoreal Feature<\/p>\n

Avatar: Fire and Ash; Varang: Leader of the Ash Clan<\/p>\n

Stephen Clee
Stuart Adcock
Keven Norris
Joseph Kim<\/p>\n

\n

\"Rumi\n<\/p>\n

Rumi was named Outsanding Character in an Animated Feature (Image credit: Netflix)<\/p>\n

Outstanding Character in an Animated Feature<\/p>\n

KPop Demon Hunters; Rumi<\/p>\n

Sophia (Seung Hee) Lee
Andrea Matamoros
Marc Souliere
Joshua Beveridge<\/p>\n

Outstanding Character in an Episodic, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-time Project<\/p>\n

IT: Welcome to Derry; \u201cThe Thing in the Dark;\u201d The Pickle Monster<\/p>\n

Philip Harris-Genois
Pierric Danjou
Chlo\u00e9 Ostiguy
Jonathan Bourdua<\/p>\n

Outstanding Environment in a Photoreal Feature<\/p>\n

Avatar: Fire and Ash; Bridgehead Industrial City<\/p>\n

Gianluca Pizzaia
Steve Bevins
Dziga Kaiser
Zsolt M\u00e1t\u00e9<\/p>\n

Outstanding Environment in an Animated Feature<\/p>\n

Zootopia 2; Marsh Market<\/p>\n

Limei Z. Hshieh
Alexander Nicholas Whang
Joshua Fry
Ryan DeYoung<\/p>\n

Outstanding Environment in an Episodic, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-time Project<\/p>\n

Andor; \u201cWelcome to the Rebellion;\u201d The Senate District<\/p>\n

John O\u2019Connell
Falk Boje
Hasan Ilhan
Kevin George<\/p>\n

Outstanding CG Cinematography<\/p>\n

Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/p>\n

Steve Deane
A.J. Briones
Zachary Brake
Andrew Moffett<\/p>\n

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project<\/p>\n

Avatar: Fire and Ash; The Windtraders’ Gondola<\/p>\n

Michael Smale
Sam Sharplin
Joe W. Churchill
Jacqi Dillon<\/p>\n

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature<\/p>\n

Avatar: Fire and Ash; Simulating Pandora<\/p>\n

Nicholas James Illingworth
Sarah C. Farmer
James Robinson
Ryan Bowden<\/p>\n

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature<\/p>\n

KPop Demon Hunters<\/p>\n

Filippo Maccari
Nikolaos Finizio
Daniel La Chapelle
Srdjan Milosevic<\/p>\n

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-time Project<\/p>\n

Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age; The Big Freeze<\/p>\n

Edward Ferrysienanda
Kevin Christensen
Guy Schuleman
Kevin Tarpinian<\/p>\n

Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Feature<\/p>\n

F1: The Movie; Modern Race and POV Footage<\/p>\n

Hugo Gauvreau
Chris Davies
Raushan Raj
Amaury Rospars<\/p>\n

Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in an Episode<\/p>\n

The Last of Us; \u201cThrough the Valley;\u201d A Storm of Ice, Fire and Flesh<\/p>\n

Tobias Wiesner
Mark Julien
Owen Longstaff
Brendan Naylor<\/p>\n

Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Commercial <\/p>\n

BMW; \u201cHeart of Joy | Meet Okto the Octopus\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Kulikov
Jack Harris
Adam Chabane
Nicola Borsari<\/p>\n

Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project<\/p>\n

Andor; \u201cWho Are You?\u201d<\/p>\n

Luke Murphy
Dean Ford
Jody Eltham
Darrell Guyon<\/p>\n

Emerging Technology Award<\/p>\n

Avatar: Fire and Ash; Kora Fire Toolset<\/p>\n

Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin
John Edholm
Murali Ramachari
Aleksandr Isakov<\/p>\n

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project<\/p>\n

Azimuth<\/p>\n

Thomas Teisseire
Cassandre Cinier
Martin Bluy
Mathis Giraudeau<\/p>\n

US Deals <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just as people debate why CGI looks worse today than in the past on social media, the Visual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-319433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}