The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

(AMPAS) as part of the annual

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, or Oscars, since the

5th Academy Awards The 5th Academy Awards were held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on November 18, 1932, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California, hosted by Conrad Nagel. Films screened in Los Angeles between August 1, 1931, and Jul ...

(with different names), covering the year 1931–32, to the present. From 1932 until 1970, the category was known as Short Subjects, Cartoons; and from 1971 to 1973 as Short Subjects, Animated Films. The present title began with the 46th Awards in 1974. During the first 5 decades of the award's existence, awards were presented to the

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

of the shorts. Current Academy rules, however, call for the award to be presented to "the individual person most directly responsible for the concept and the creative execution of the film." Moreover, " the event that more than one individual has been directly and importantly involved in creative decisions, a second statuette may be awarded." Only

American films This is a list of films produced by the American film industry from the earliest films of the 1890s to the present. Films are listed by year of release on separate pages, either in alphabetical order (1900–2013) or in chronological order (2 ...

were nominated for the award until the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

(NFB) was nominated for ''

The Romance of Transportation in Canada ''The Romance of Transportation in Canada'' is a 1952 animated short film made by the National Film Board of Canada, as part of the postwar ''Canada Carries On'' series, offering a humorous account of the history of transportation in Canada. The f ...

'' in 1952. The first non-English-language international short to win was

Zagreb Film Zagreb Film is a Croatian film company principally known for its animation studio. From Zagreb, it was founded in 1953. They have produced hundreds of animated films, as well as documentaries, television commercials, educational films and several f ...

's '' Ersatz (The Substitute)'' in 1961. The first film to win in this category was ''

Flowers and Trees ''Flowers and Trees'' is a 1932 ''Silly Symphonies'' cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Burt Gillett, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 30, 1932. It was the first commercially released film to be produced in the full-c ...

'' by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

, who has since held the category's record for most nominations (39) and most wins (12).Search Results: 'Walt Disney'
" ''Academy Awards Database''. 2021.

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

's ''

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

'' (1940–67) is the category's most lauded animated series over all, being nominated for a total of 13 Oscars and winning 7.

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

's ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

''/''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' series also had a big amount of 16 Oscar nominations and winning 5. Among international studios, the NFB has the most wins in this category, with 6 Oscars. The biggest showing from

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

in this category is

Nick Park Nicholas Wulstan Park (born 6 December 1958) is a British animator who created ''Wallace and Gromit'', ''Creature Comforts'', ''Chicken Run'', ''Shaun the Sheep'', and '' Early Man''. Park has been nominated for an Academy Award a total of ...

, with three wins: 1 for ''

Creature Comforts ''Creature Comforts'' is a British adult stop-motion comedy mockumentary franchise originating in a 1989 British humorous animated short film of the same name. The film matched animated zoo animals with a soundtrack of people talking about th ...

'' and 2 for the ''

Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series c ...

'' series. The Academy defines ''

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

'' as being "not more than 40 minutes, including all credits." Fifteen films are

shortlisted A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

before nominations are announced. In the listings below, the title shown in boldface was the winner of the award in that given year, followed by the other nominees for that year.

Winners and nominees

All bars that are highlighted yellow were winners—with the title and name shown in boldface.

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Notes

Superlatives

For this Academy Award category, the following superlatives emerge:Academy Award Statistics
" ''Academy Awards Database''. * Most awards:

12 awards * Most nominations:

39 nominations * Most consecutive years:

8 years (1931-1939) * Shortest winning film: ''

The Crunch Bird ''The Crunch Bird'' (El pájaro crujiente) is an animated short by Joe Petrovich, Len Maxwell, and Ted Petok. It won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Joe Petrovich animated the cartoon. Len Maxwell provided the voices for the h ...

'' (1971) 2 minutes and 32 seconds * Longest winning film: '' The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse'' (2022) 34 minutes * Shortest nominated film: ''

Fresh Guacamole ''Fresh Guacamole'' is a 2012 American animated short film written and directed by PES (Adam Pesapane). The film was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the 85th Academy Awards; at 1 minute and 40 seconds, it is the shortest film ever nom ...

'' (2012) 1 min. 44 sec. * Longest nominated film: ''

Pear Cider and Cigarettes ''Pear Cider and Cigarettes'' is a 2016 Canadian animated short film written and directed by Robert Valley and produced by Cara Speller. The film and the graphic novel of the same name are based on a true story. Plot Hard-living Techno Stypes ...

'' (2016) 34 minutes 59 seconds.

Multiple nominations and awards

The following is a list of animation studios or animators that earned multiple nominations and awards in this category.

Submissions

Animation historian

Jerry Beck Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955, in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including ''The 50 Greatest C ...

posted, on ''Cartoon Research'', lists of animated shorts from various studios considered for nomination beginning with 1948—as documents prior could not be located—and ending so far with 1986. Between those years, the following documentations were also missing: 1949, 1950, 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985.

1937–47

1948–59

1960s

1970s

1980s

2005

2009–present

Footnotes

{{Academy Awards lists

Animated Short Film Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

American animation awards * History of animation

Winners and nominees

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Notes

Superlatives

Multiple nominations and awards

Submissions

1937–47

1948–59

1960s

1970s

1980s

2005

2009–present

See also

Footnotes