Awards
Jury
Our 2026 jurors are Pacific Northwest-based animators who will judge all shorts in competition for the Grand Jury Prize, Best in the Pacific Northwest, and Best Student Film awards.
Audience members will also vote on their favorite short to win the Audience Award.
Alex Barsky is an artist living in Seattle, WA. Her award-winning short films The Alligator and Train Man are about frustrated and weary people who have run out of luck. They have screened around the world at festivals like SXSW, Animex, and Animation Block Party. She runs Zine Hug, a micropress that publishes comics and animation using a risograph printer. She is currently an assistant professor at Cornish College of the Arts and the director of their animation program.
Michael Granberry
Michael Granberry is a three-time Emmy award-winning director and stop-motion animator whose work can be seen in Ben Stiller’s critically acclaimed Severance, Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning Pinocchio, Henry Selick's Wendell & Wild, Charlie Kaufman's Oscar-nominated Anomalisa, the multiple-award-winning Tiny Chef Show and numerous others. His Oscar- qualifying short film, Les Bêtes, screened at the 2025 Sea Slug Animation Festival and has won over 100 awards worldwide, including the Jury Prize at the 2025 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Michael Granberry is a three-time Emmy award-winning director and stop-motion animator whose work can be seen in Ben Stiller’s critically acclaimed Severance, Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning Pinocchio, Henry Selick's Wendell & Wild, Charlie Kaufman's Oscar-nominated Anomalisa, the multiple-award-winning Tiny Chef Show and numerous others. His Oscar- qualifying short film, Les Bêtes, screened at the 2025 Sea Slug Animation Festival and has won over 100 awards worldwide, including the Jury Prize at the 2025 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Clyde Petersen
Clyde Petersen (they/he) is a transgender Northwest artist, working in film, animation, music and installation. He re-creates lost worlds and documents cultures largely erased by AIDS, capitalism and gentrification. He works to offer alternate, more equitable realities and futures through the reexamination of overlooked histories. His work is slow and patient, animating only a few seconds of film a day, gathering new oral histories and building scale-model worlds to tell stories in. Clyde is the director of Torrey Pines, Even Hell has its Heroes, and Our Forbidden Country.
Clyde Petersen (they/he) is a transgender Northwest artist, working in film, animation, music and installation. He re-creates lost worlds and documents cultures largely erased by AIDS, capitalism and gentrification. He works to offer alternate, more equitable realities and futures through the reexamination of overlooked histories. His work is slow and patient, animating only a few seconds of film a day, gathering new oral histories and building scale-model worlds to tell stories in. Clyde is the director of Torrey Pines, Even Hell has its Heroes, and Our Forbidden Country.
Awards
Grand Jury Prize
The Night Boots
When an artist of great skill dedicates themself to a medium of extreme difficulty, their efforts can—sometimes—result in pure magic. The winners of both the Grand Jury Prize and the Grand Jury Honorable Mention are films whose masterful storytelling is matched by jaw-dropping technical skill.
For its dreamlike tale of childhood fear transformed into empowerment through friendship and kindness, realized through the painstakingly arduous medium of pin-screen animation, the Grand Jury Prize goes to The Night Boots.
The Night Boots
When an artist of great skill dedicates themself to a medium of extreme difficulty, their efforts can—sometimes—result in pure magic. The winners of both the Grand Jury Prize and the Grand Jury Honorable Mention are films whose masterful storytelling is matched by jaw-dropping technical skill.
For its dreamlike tale of childhood fear transformed into empowerment through friendship and kindness, realized through the painstakingly arduous medium of pin-screen animation, the Grand Jury Prize goes to The Night Boots.
Grand Jury Prize, Honorable Mention
Weeds
For its electrifying use of oil-paint on glass animation to craft a timely, brutal, yet ultimately hopeful vision for the end of segregation, the Grand Jury Prize Honorable Mention goes to Weeds.
Weeds
For its electrifying use of oil-paint on glass animation to craft a timely, brutal, yet ultimately hopeful vision for the end of segregation, the Grand Jury Prize Honorable Mention goes to Weeds.
Best of the Pacific Northwest
The Epic of Enkidu
The Epic of Enkidu
The shorts recognized in the category of Best of the Pacific Northwest are both wordless, 2D drawn animations that rely on incredible gesture and acting to convey their stories. These both harken back to the roots of Golden Age animated storytelling, squashing and stretching right into our hearts.
Mike A. Smith’s short film displays true mastery of the animated craft and impeccable comedic timing. The exaggerated blend of comedy and tragedy leaves the audience on the edge of our seats until the very end.
Mike A. Smith’s short film displays true mastery of the animated craft and impeccable comedic timing. The exaggerated blend of comedy and tragedy leaves the audience on the edge of our seats until the very end.
Best of the Pacific Northwest, Honorable Mention
The Princess Is Missing!
Kabir Kukathas is a college student bursting onto the animation scene with his impressive debut short. Imaginative, playful, and energetically expressed with a jazzy score, the honorable mention for Best of the Pacific Northwest goes to The Princess Is Missing!
The Princess Is Missing!
Kabir Kukathas is a college student bursting onto the animation scene with his impressive debut short. Imaginative, playful, and energetically expressed with a jazzy score, the honorable mention for Best of the Pacific Northwest goes to The Princess Is Missing!
Best Student Film
Stone of Destiny
Stone of Destiny
From the start of Stone of Destiny, the setting sun and hillside shadows show us there is beauty in the details if you pause and observe. The animation is so calculated that at times it appears deceptively simple. Do not be fooled. The crashing of a wave upon a rock, the dissipation of a trail of smoke, a passing ray of light. The attention given to every scratch upon this page is intentional, gorgeous and talented.
Best Student Film, Honorable Mention
Foreign Bodies
Foreign Bodies
Foreign Bodies was created with such care, embracing colorful textures, rippling paper and surprising forced perspectives. Each new shot brought us deeper into the story through unexpected camera angles that amplified the tension and urgency of this infestation.
Audience Award
The Night Boots
Sometimes, a film perfectly steals you away into its world. The Night Boots does just that and amazed our jury and audience in equal measure. Its friendly but anxious monster, caring and curious boy protagonist, and litany of nighttime forest creatures are only outdone by the magnificent use of pinscreen to conjure their adventures. This film is a true standout of the Furious Edition.
The Night Boots
Sometimes, a film perfectly steals you away into its world. The Night Boots does just that and amazed our jury and audience in equal measure. Its friendly but anxious monster, caring and curious boy protagonist, and litany of nighttime forest creatures are only outdone by the magnificent use of pinscreen to conjure their adventures. This film is a true standout of the Furious Edition.
Audience Award, honorable mention
Hungry Hollow
Epitomizing the charm of silly little guys and handcrafted animation, Hungry Hollow stole our audience’s hearts. This hand-drawn, riso-printed, and collaged short somehow manages to mix vibey comedy with decomposition to pitch perfect effect. Its reflection on the circle of life makes the thought of slowly oozing into the earth feel like a warm hug. As one of the organizer’s dads exclaimed out loud during the screening, “This is some real art!”
Hungry Hollow
Epitomizing the charm of silly little guys and handcrafted animation, Hungry Hollow stole our audience’s hearts. This hand-drawn, riso-printed, and collaged short somehow manages to mix vibey comedy with decomposition to pitch perfect effect. Its reflection on the circle of life makes the thought of slowly oozing into the earth feel like a warm hug. As one of the organizer’s dads exclaimed out loud during the screening, “This is some real art!”
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