Winners of 21st Annual VES Awards announced, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ at top

The 21st Annual VES Awards was held by the Visual Effects Society at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water dominated the awards with nine wins. 

With a record 14 nominations, James Cameron’s acclaimed sequel entered the Visual Effects Society ceremony. It surpassed the previous record for film established by the 2010 nominations for the original Avatar, which received 11 nominations. That day, it also took home the society’s marquee award before winning the VFX Oscar.

The Way of Water also won awards for character, environment, model, virtual cinematography, and the marquee prize for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. 

Amazon Studios, MGM, and United Artists Releasing’s harrowing account of the 2018 Thai cave rescue, Thirteen Lives, took home the award for Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, while Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix led the field for animation with three victories, including Visual Effects in an Animated Feature.

Along with the jury winners that were previously revealed, here are the 2023 VES Awards winners:

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water

Richard Baneham
Walter Garcia
Joe Letteri
Eric Saindon
JD Schwalm

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Aaron Weintraub
Jeffrey Schaper
Cameron Carson
Emma Gorbey

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL

Frito-Lay; Push It

Tom Raynor
Sophie Harrison
Ben Cronin
Martino Madeddu

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Udûn

Jason Smith
Ron Ames
Nigel Sumner
Tom Proctor
Dean Clarke

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Thirteen Lives

Jason Billington
Thomas Horton
Denis Baudin
Michael Harrison Brian Cox

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE

Five Days at Memorial; Day Two

Eric Durst
Danny McNair
Matt Whelan
Goran Pavles
John MacGillivray

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Pinocchio

Oliver Beale
Richard Pickersgill
Brian Leif Hansen
Kim Slate

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

The Umbrella Academy; Pogo

Aidan Martin
Hannah Dockerty
Olivier Beierlein
Miae Kang

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water; Kiri

Anneka Fris
Rebecca Louise Leybourne
Guillaume Francois
Jung Rock Hwang

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Simulations

Johnathan Nixon
David Moraton
Nicolas James Illingworth
David Caeiro Cebrian

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Derek Cheung
Michael Losure
Kiem Ching Ong
Jinguang Huang

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Udûn; Water and Magma

Rick Hankins
Aron Bonar
Branko Grujcic
Laurent Kermel

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Integration

Sam Cole
Francois Sugny
Florian Schroeder
Jean Matthews

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL

Ladbrokes; Rocky

Greg Spencer
Theajo Dharan
Georgina Ford
Jonathan Westley

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE

Love, Death + Robots; Night of the Mini Dead

Tim Emeis
José Maximiano
Renaud Tissandié
Nacere Guerouaf

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT

Avatar: The Way of Water; Current Machine and Wave Pool

JD Schwalm
Richard Schwalm
Nick Rand
Robert Spurlock

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT

Avatar: The Way of Water; The Sea Dragon

Sam Sharplin
Stephan Skorepa
Ian Baker
Guillaume Francois

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD

Avatar: The Way of Water; Water Toolset

Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin
Steve Lesser
Sven Joel Wretborn
Douglas McHale

OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT

Avatar: The Way of Water

Richard Baneham
Dan Cox
Eric Reynolds
A.J Briones

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE

Avatar: The Way of Water; The Reef

Jessica Cowley
Joe W. Churchill
Justin Stockton
Alex Nowotny

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; In the Stomach of a Sea Monster

Warren Lawtey
Anjum Sakharkar
Javier Gonzalez Alonso
Quinn Carvalho

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power; Adar; Númenor City

Dan Wheaton
Nico Delbecq
Dan Letarte
Julien Gauthier

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT

The Last of Us Part I

Erick Pangilinan
Evan Wells
Eben Cook
Mary Jane Whiting

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT

ABBA: Voyage

Ben Morris
Edward Randolph
Stephen Aplin
Ian Comley

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT (AWARD SPONSORED BY AUTODESK)

A Calling. From the Desert. To the Sea

Mario Bertsch
Max Pollmann
Lukas Löffler
Till Sander-Titgemeyer

WINSOR McCAY AWARD (Juried winners)

Pete Docter
Evelyn Lambart
Craig McCracken

UB IWERKS AWARD (Juried winner)

Visual Effects Reference Platform

CERTIFICATE OF MERIT AWARD (Juried winner)

John Omohundro