Best Animated Short

BearStory 001 — Bear Story, winner 2015.

The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present.

This category was known as Best Short Subjects (Cartoons) from 1932 until 1970, and as "Best Short Subjects (Animated Films)" from 1971 to 1973. The present title began with the 1974 awards. This category is notable for giving Walt Disney 12 of his 22 Academy Awards, including a posthumous 1968 award, and also 10 of the first 11 awards awarded in the category. Only American films were nominated for the award until 1952.

Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies and MGM's Tom and Jerry were the category's most acclaimed animated series, both winning seven Oscars. Among foreign studios, the National Film Board of Canada has the most wins in this category, with six Oscars. The biggest showing from Britain in this category is Nick Park's Wallace and Gromit with two wins so far.

Awards were presented to the shorts' producers during the first five decades of the award's existence. Current Academy rules call for the award to be presented to "the individual person most directly responsible for the concept and the creative execution of the film. In the event that more than one individual has been directly and importantly involved in creative decisions, a second statuette may be awarded." The Academy defines short as being "not more than 40 minutes, including all credits."

Nominees and winners

Best Animated Short By Decade
1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s • 2010s

1931/32 - 1970: This award was named Best Short Subjects (Cartoons)

1970s

44th Academy Awards (1971)

Winner: The Crunch Bird — Ted Petok
Nominees: Evolution — Michael Mills; The Selfish Giant — Peter Sander, Murray Shostak

45th Academy Awards (1972)

Winner: A Christmas Carol — Richard Williams
Nominees: Kama Sutra Rides Again — Bob Godfrey; Tup Tup — Nedeljko Dragic

46th Academy Awards (1973)

Winner: Frank Film — Frank Mouris
Nominees: The Legend of John Henry — Nick Bosustow, David Adams; Pulcinella — Emanuele Luzzati, Giulio Gianini

47th Academy Awards (1974)

Winner: Closed Mondays — Will Vinton, Bob Gardiner
Nominees: The Family That Dwelt Apart — Yvon Mallette, Robert Verrall; Hunger — Peter Foldes, René Jodoin; Voyage to Next — Faith Hubley, John Hubley; Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too — Wolfgang Reitherman

48th Academy Awards (1975)

Winner: Great — Bob Godfrey
Nominees: Kick Me — Robert Swarthe; Monsieur Pointu — René Jodoin, Bernard Longpré, André Leduc; Sisyphus — Marcell Jankovics

49th Academy Awards (1976)

Winner: Leisure — Suzanne Baker, Peter Werner
Nominees: Dedalo — Manfredo Manfredi; The Street — Caroline Leaf, Guy Glover

50th Academy Awards (1977)

Winner: The Sand Castle — Co Hoedeman
Nominees: The Bead Game — Ishu Patel; The Donnesbury Special — John Hubley, Faith Hubley, Garry Trudeau; Jimmy the C — James Picker, Robert Grossman, Craig Whitaker

51st Academy Awards (1978)

Winner: Special Delivery — Eunice Macaulay, John Weldon
Nominees: Oh My Darling — Nico Crama, Fern Field; Rip Van Winkle — Will Vinton

52nd Academy Awards (1979)

Winner: Every Child — Derek Lamb
Nominees: Dream Doll — Bob Godfrey, Zlatko Grgic; It's So Nice to Have a Wolf around the House — Paul Fierlinger

1980s

53rd Academy Awards (1980)

Winner: The Fly — Ferenc Rofusz
Nominees: All Nothing — Frédéric Back; History of the World in Three Minutes Flat — Michael Mills

54th Academy Awards (1981)

Winner: Crac — Frédéric Back
Nominees: The Creation — Will Vinton; The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin — Janet Perlman

55th Academy Awards (1982)

Winner: Tango — Zbigniew Rybczynski
Nominees: The Great Cognito — Will Vinton; The Snowman — John Coates

56th Academy Awards (1983)

Winner: Sundae in New York — Jimmy Picker
Nominees: Mickey's Christmas Carol — Burny Mattinson; Sound of Sunshine - Sound of Rain — Eda Godel Hallinan

57th Academy Awards (1984)

Winner: Charade — Jon Minnis
Nominees: Doctor De Soto — Morton Schindel, Michael Sporn; Paradise — Ishu Patel

58th Academy Awards (1985)

Winner: Anna & Bella — Cilia Van Dijk
Nominees: The Big Snit — Richard Condie, Michael Scott; Second Class Mail — Alison Snowden

59th Academy Awards (1986)

Winner: A Greek Tragedy — Linda Van Tulden, Willem Thijssen
Nominees: The Frog, the Dog and the Devil — Bob Stenhouse; Love Struck — Fredda Weiss

60th Academy Awards (1987)

Winner: The Man Who Planted Trees — Frédéric Back
Nominees: George and Rosemary — Eunice Macaulay; Your Face — Bill Plympton

61st Academy Awards (1988)

Winner: Tin Toy — John Lasseter, William Reeves
Nominees: The Cat Came Back — Cordell Barker; Technological Threat — Bill Kroyer, Brian Jennings

62nd Academy Awards (1989)

Winner: Balance — Christoph Lauenstein, Wolfgang Lauenstein
Nominees: The Cow — Alexander Petrov; The Hill Farm — Mark Baker

1990s

63rd Academy Awards (1990)

Winner: Creature Comforts — Nick Park
Nominees: A Grand Day Out — Nick Park; Grasshoppers (Cavallette) — Bruno Bozzetto

64th Academy Awards (1991)

Winner: Manipulation — Daniel Greaves
Nominees: Blackfly — Christopher Hinton; Strings — Wendy Tilby

65th Academy Awards (1992)

Winner: Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase — Joan C. Gratz
Nominees: Adam — Peter Lord; Reci, Reci, Reci... (Words, Words, Words) — Michaela Pavlátová; The Sandman — Paul Berry; Screen Play — Barry J.C. Purves

66th Academy Awards (1993)

Winner: The Wrong Trousers — Nick Park
Nominees: Blindscape — Stephen Palmer; The Mighty River — Frédéric Back, Hubert Tison; Small Talk — Bob Godfrey, Kevin Baldwin; The Village — Mark Baker

67th Academy Awards (1994)

Winner: Bob's Birthday — Alison Snowden, David Fine
Nominees: The Big Story — Tim Watts, David Stoten; The Janitor — Vanessa Schwartz; The Monk and the Fish — Michael Dudok de Wit; Triangle — Erica Russell

68th Academy Awards (1995)

Winner: A Close Shave — Nick Park
Nominees: The Chicken from Outer Space — John R. Dilworth; the end — Chris Landreth, Robin Bargar; Gagarin — Alexij Kharitidi; Runaway Brain — Chris Bailey

69th Academy Awards (1996)

Winner: Quest — Tyron Montgomery, Thomas Stellmach
Nominees: Canhead — Timothy Hittle, Chris Peterson; La Salla — Richard Condie; Wat's Pig — Peter Lord

70th Academy Awards (1997)

Winner: Gen's Game — Jan Pinkava
Nominees: Famous Fred — Joanna Quinn; La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons (The Old Lady and the Pigeons) — Sylvan Chomet; The Mermaid — Alexander Petrov; Redux Riding Hood — Steve Moore, Dan O'Shannon

71st Academy Awards (1998)

Winner: Bunny — Chris Wedge
Nominees: The Canterbury Tales — Christopher Grace, Jonathan Myerson; Jolly Roger — Mark Baker; More — Mark Osborne, Steve Kalafer; When Life Departs — Karsten Kiilerich, Stefan Fjeldmark

72nd Academy Awards (1999)

Winner: The Old Man and the Sea — Alexander Petrov
Nominees: Humdrum — Peter Peake; My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts — Torill Kove; 3 Misses — Paul Driessen; When the Day Breaks — Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis

2000s

73rd Academy Awards (2000)

Winner: Father and Daughter — Michael Dudok de Wit
Nominees: The Periwig-Maker — Steffen Schäffler, Annette Schäffler; Rejected — Don Hertzfeldt

74th Academy Awards (2001)

Winner: For the Birds — Ralph Eggleston
Nominees: Fifty Percent Grey — Ruairi Robinson, Seamus Byrne; Give Up Yer Aul Sins — Cathal Gaffney, Darragh O'Connell; Strange Invaders — Cordell Barker; Stubble Trouble — Joseph E. Merideth