Today, the Visual Effects Society (VES) announced the nominees for the 22nd Annual VES Awards, recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in features, animation, television, commercials and video games. Awards will be presented on February 21 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
The Creator leads the live-action feature film field tied by top animated contender Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse with seven nominations each. The Last of Us leads the episodic race with six nominations.
Nominees in 25 categories were selected by VES members at 39 in-person and virtual nomination events conducted worldwide over a 36-hour continuous process. The distinctive and thoughtful VES Awards nominations protocol included a review of each awards submission including “Befores and Afters” by a minimum of three different judging panels. Participating VES members on the panels represented 25 countries, highlighting the full breadth of the Society’s diverse global membership.
“The artistry, ingenuity and passion of visual effects practitioners around the world have come together to create remarkable imagery,” said Kim Davidson, newly elected VES Chair. “We are seeing best in class work that elevates the art of storytelling and exemplifies the spirit of innovation. The VES Awards is the only venue that showcases and honors these outstanding artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of our nominees.”
Select categories and their nominees below, see the VES announcement here for the complete list of nominees.
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Ben Snow
Diana Giorgiutti
Khalid Almeerani
Scott Benza
Sam Conway
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Stephane Ceretti
Susan Pickett
Alexis Wajsbrot
Guy Williams
Dan Sudick
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Andrew Whitehurst
Kathy Siegel
Robert Weaver
Julian Hutchens
Alistair Williams
Oppenheimer
Andrew Jackson
Mike Chambers, VES
Giacomo Mineo
Dave Drzewiecki
Scot Fisher
The Creator
Jay Cooper
Julian Levi
Ian Comley
Charmaine Chan
Neil Corbould, VES
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Jon Biggins
Jim Lewis
Charles Copping
Matthew Perry
Elemental
Peter Sohn
Denise Ream
Sanjay Bakshi
Stephen Marshall
Nimona
Archie Donato
Yancy Lindquist
Theodore Ty
Anthony Kemp
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Alan Hawkins
Christian Hejnal
Michael Lasker
Matt Hausman
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Matthieu Rouxel
Marie Balland
Jacques Daigle
Vincent Leroy
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Ahsoka; Season 1; Dreams and Madness
Richard Bluff
Jakris Smittant
Paul Kavanagh
Enrico Damm
Scott Fisher
Loki; Season 2; Glorious Purpose
Christopher Townsend
Allison Paul
Matthew Twyford
Christopher Smallfield
John William Van Der Pool
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
Sean Konrad
Jessica Smith
Jed Glassford
Khalid Almeerani
Paul Benjamin
The Last of Us; Season 1; Infected
Alex Wang
Sean Nowlan
Stephen James
Simon Jung
Joel Whist
The Mandalorian; Season 3; The Return
Grady Cofer
Abbigail Keller
Victor Schutz IV
Cameron Neilson
Scott Fisher
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom; Topo the Octopus
Thomas Ward
Andrew Butler
Felix Slinger-Thompson
Jacob Burstein
Godzilla Minus One; Godzilla
Kosuke Taguchi
Takashi Yamazaki
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; Rocket
Nathan McConnel
Andrea De Martis
Antony Magdalinidis
Rachel Williams
Wonka; Oompa Loompa
Dale Newton
Kunal Ayer
Valentina Ercolani
Gabor Foner
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Elemental; Ember
Gwendelyn Enderoglu
Jared Fong
Jonathan Hoffman
Patrick Witting
Elemental; Wade
Max Gilbert
Jacob Kuenzel
Dave Strick
Benjamin Su
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Spot
Christopher Mangnall
Craig Feifarek
Humberto Rosa
Nideep Varghese
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; Superfly
Gregory Coelho
Anne-Claire Leroux
Simon Cuisinier
Olivier Pierre
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Diablo IV; Inarius and Lilith Cinematic; Lilith
Matt Onheiber
Jason Huang
Maia Neubig
Shadow and Bone; Season 2; No Funerals; Nichevo’ya the Shadow Monster
José María del Fresno
Matthieu Poirey
Carlos Puigdollers
Guillermo Ramos
The Last of Us; Endure & Survive; Bloater
Gino Acevedo
Max Telfer
Pascal Raimbault
Fabio Leporelli
The Nevers; It’s a Good Day; Robot Dog
Christian Leitner
Bernd Nalbach
Sebastian Plank
Martin Wellstein
Virgin Media; Goat Glider; The Goat
Sam Driscoll
Kanishk Chouhan
Suvi Jokiniemi
Chloe Dawe
OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget; Chicken Island
Charles Copping
Matthew Perry
Jim Lewis
Jon Biggins
Elemental; Element City
Chris Bernardi
Brandon Montell
David Shavers
Ting Zhang
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Mumbattan City
Taehyun Park
YJ Lee
Pepe Orozco
Kelly Han
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem; Midtown Manhattan
Olivier Mitonneau
Eddy Frechou
Guillaume Chevet
Arnaud Philippe-Giraux
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Elemental
Kristopher Campbell
Greg Gladstone
Jon Reisch
Kylie Wijsmuller
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Pav Grochola
Filippo Maccari
Naoki Kato
Nicola Finizio
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Louis Marsaud
Paul-Etienne Bourde
Serge Martin
Marine Pommereul
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Simon Pate
Christophe Vazquez
Milo Riccarand
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Blue Beetle; Machine Learning Cloth
JohnMark Gibbons
Allen Ruilova
Momme Carl
David Minor
Elemental; Volumetric Neural Style Transfer
Vinicius C. Azevedo
Byungsoo Kim
Raphael Ortiz
Paul Kanyuk
The Flash; Volumetric Capture
Stephan Trojansky
Thomas Ganshorn
Oliver Pilarski
Lukas Lepicovsky
Wish; Dynamic Screen Space Textures for Coherent Stylization
Brent Burley
Daniel Teece
Brian J. Green
