The 53rd annual Annie Awards, 2026 ACE Eddie Awards, and 62nd annual Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Awards recently honored achievements in animation, film and television editing, and sound mixing, respectively. These prestigious ceremonies celebrated the best across the entertainment industry.
Netflix's "KPop Demon Hunters" received multiple accolades across these ceremonies, including Best Feature at the Annies, Best Edited Animated Feature at the ACE Eddies, and Best Animated Motion Picture Sound Mixing at the CAS Awards.
53rd Annie Awards
The 53rd annual Annie Awards recognized excellence in animation, with Netflix’s "KPop Demon Hunters" receiving 10 awards. These included Best Feature, Best Direction for Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, and Best Voice Acting for Arden Cho as Rumi. The film also secured awards for Production Design, Music, Writing, Character Design, Character Animation, FX, and Editorial. "KPop Demon Hunters" was nominated in all 10 categories it won, has accumulated over 482 million views, and its soundtrack has been streamed approximately 11 billion times.
Other notable film winners included:
- Best Feature – Independent: "Acro" from Neon, which premiered at Cannes and is nominated for an Animated Feature Oscar.
- Best Storyboarding – Feature: DreamWorks Animation’s "The Bad Guys 2."
Films that did not receive awards despite nominations included Disney/Pixar’s "Elio" (10 nominations) and Walt Disney Studios’ "Zootopia 2." Historically, 14 of 23 Annie's Best Feature winners have proceeded to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar since its 2002 inception, though the previous year's Academy Award went to "Flow" over "The Wild Robot," which had led the 2025 Annies with seven nominations.
Television and Media Awards (Annie Awards)
On the television side, Netflix’s "Love, Death + Robots" received three awards. Pixar’s "Win or Lose" and Adult Swim’s "Common Side Effects" each secured three wins. Other television winners included:
- Dan Mintz for voice acting in Fox’s "Bob’s Burgers."
- Hulu’s "The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball Episode."
Juried and Special Awards (Annie Awards)
- June Foray Award: Sandy Rabins, for founding AnimAID, an initiative assisting animation industry members affected by the L.A. Wildfires.
- Winsor McCay Awards (Lifetime Achievement): Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Michaël Dudok de Wit, and Chris Sanders.
- Ub Iwerks Award (Technical Achievement): Wacom.
- Special Achievement Award: LightBox Expo.
2026 ACE Eddie Awards
The 2026 annual ACE Eddie Awards were presented at UCLA’s Royce Hall, with Asif Ali as host, recognizing achievements in film and television editing. Warner Bros.’ "Sinners" and "One Battle After Another," along with Netflix’s "KPop Demon Hunters," received top film honors.
Film Editing Winners (ACE Eddie Awards)
- Best Edited Feature Film (Drama, Theatrical): Michael P. Shawver for "Sinners."
- Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy, Theatrical): Andy Jurgensen for "One Battle After Another."
- Best Edited Animated Feature Film: Nathan Schauf for "KPop Demon Hunters."
- Best Edited Feature Film (Non-Theatrical): Yvette M. Amirian for "A Winter’s Song."
- Best Edited Documentary Feature: Viridiana Lieberman for "The Perfect Neighbor."
- Best Edited Short: Erin Casper, Stephen Maing, and Jeremy Medoff for "All the Empty Rooms."
Michael P. Shawver and Andy Jurgensen are both nominated for Best Editing at the upcoming Academy Awards. Historically, the Eddie winner for theatrical drama has aligned with the Academy Award for Best Editing in 14 out of 26 instances since 2000, with this correlation occurring once in the past five years for "Oppenheimer."
Television Editing Winners (ACE Eddie Awards)
- Best Edited Drama Series: Mark Strand for HBO Max’s "The Pitt."
- Best Edited Limited Series: Henk van Eeghen for HBO’s "The Penguin."
- Best Edited Single Camera Comedy Series: Eric Kissack for Apple TV’s "The Studio."
- Best Edited Multi-Camera Comedy Series: Russell Griffin for CBS’s "Frasier."
- Best Edited Animated Series: David List and Nate Pellettieri for "South Park" (episode "Twisted Christian").
- Best Edited Documentary Series: Damian Rodriguez for HBO’s "Pee-wee as Himself – Part One."
- Best Edited Non-Scripted Series: Matthew Shaw and Brad Roelandt for "Conan O’Brien Must Go."
- Best Edited Variety Talk/Sketch Show or Special: Multiple editors for "Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special."
Special Honors (ACE Eddie Awards)
- ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award: Two-time Oscar winner Ang Lee.
- ACE Career Achievement Awards: Emmy-winning editor-director Arthur Forney and Oscar-nominated editor Robert Leighton.
- ACE Visionary Award: YouTube, accepted by Kim Larson, Managing Director and Head of the Creator and Gaming team.
- Anne V. Coates Award for Student Editing: Luis Barragan from California State University, Fullerton.
62nd Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Awards
The 62nd annual Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Awards honored achievements in sound mixing for film and television at a ceremony hosted by Chris Hardwick.
Film Sound Mixing Winners (CAS Awards)
- Motion Picture – Live Action: "F1: The Movie," with Gareth John (Production Sound Mixer), Gary A. Rizzo CAS, Juan Peralta (Re-Recording Mixers), Alan Meyerson CAS (Scoring Mixer), Alan Freedman CAS (ADR Mixer), and Dennis Leonard (Foley Mixer).
- Motion Picture – Animated: "KPop Demon Hunters," with Howard London CAS (Original Dialogue Mixer), Michael Babcock CAS, Tony Lamberti (Re-Recording Mixers), Erich Talaba (Scoring Mixer), and Giorgi Lekishvili (Foley Mixer).
- Motion Picture – Documentary: "Becoming Led Zeppelin," with Nigel Albermaniche (Production Sound Mixer) and Nick Bergh (Re-Recording Mixer).
Television Sound Mixing Winners (CAS Awards)
- Television Series – One Hour: "The Pitt" S01 E13 7:00 PM.
- Television Series – Half Hour: "The Studio" S01 E08 Golden Globes.
- Non-Theatrical Motion Picture or Limited Series: "Adolescence" S01 E01.
- Television Non-Fiction, Variety or Music – Series or Specials: "Billy Joel: And So It Goes" S1 E01 Part One.
Special Honors (CAS Awards)
- Cinema Audio Society Filmmaker Award: Guillermo del Toro.
- CAS Career Achievement Award: Oscar-winning re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay.
- Student Recognition Award Finalist: Mingxi Xu from the National Film and Television School.