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99th Academy Awards | 25 Potential Best Animated Short Contenders
Credit: APART, God Is Shy, Living with a Visionary, Paper Trail, With Tapes and Toasts in the Car, Paradaïzm, Sulaimani, Lilo & Scratch, Susurros
There are three paths to qualifying for a Best Animated Short Oscar. One is to win a Student Academy Award. Another is to be publicly exhibited for paid admission in a commercial theater in one of the six qualifying U.S. metro areas. The third and most common route is to win an award at an Oscar-qualifying film festival. Eligible entries are narrowed down to a shortlist of fifteen, which will be announced on December 15, 2026. Five of those shorts will go on to become Oscar nominees. Here are twenty-five animated shorts that we could see contend for the 99th Academy Awards:
Acid City
Jack Wedge and Will Freudenheim’s mockumentary doesn’t feel too far off from where the real world is headed, as a film crew chronicles the lives of inhabitants on an isolated island surrounded by toxic water. Acid City won the Golden Dragon for Best Short Film at the Krakow Film Festival, bringing it one step closer to Oscar eligibility.
Spike Lee co-wrote this animated short from director Pola Maneli, whose upbringing in South Africa inspired a story about two boys who learn that few things in this world are deadlier than hate. Apart has qualified for Oscar consideration through its Best in Show at SIGGRAPH.
The Apricot
Alex Z. Avila directed this semi-autobiographical film with Rachel Meng, telling the tale of a ten-year-old boy who gets his first taste of work at his family’s apricot farm over one memorable summer. The Apricot has picked up several accolades, including the Oscar-qualifying Jury Award for Best Animated Short at the New York International Children's Film Festival.
Because Today Is Saturday
Because Today Is Saturday just might make it to Oscar Sunday, having won Best Short Film from a Spanish-Speaking Country at Animayo and PÖFF Shorts: Best Animation Short at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Alice Guimarães’ film, a woman finds that not even the weekend can provide an easy escape from her responsibilities at home.
Beyond Measure
Bluey’s Joe Brumm and Pixar’s Lee Unkrich are among those who have praised Beyond Measure. They aren’t the only ones, as director David Ferrier’s story of a small man’s larger-than-life journey won the Animated Short Jury Award at the Austin Film Festival.
Corpus Christi
Another Krakow Film Festival winner, Corpus Christi took home the Silver Dragon for Best Short Animated Film. Director Bea Lema drew from her own graphic novel, weaving together themes of mental illness and spiritual healing.
Cows came out on top of this year’s Student Academy Award winners, bringing the gold to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Nicolás Acevedo Ferraté, Valentin Brachet, Maxence Corriette, Tanguy Delepine, Eireen Failly, Jonathan Lally, Elio Molinaro, Yulia Nikitina, and Alexandre Vespuce directed this tale of a cow who learns that the green only seems greener on the other side.
Daffy Season
Credit: Daffy Season (Warner Bros.)
Despite starring in some of the funniest cartoons from animation’s golden age, Daffy Duck never appeared in an Oscar-nominated short. Directors Hamish Grieve and Todd Wilderman may change that with Daffy Season, which is getting a wide theatrical release alongside Warner Bros.’ The Cat in the Hat.
Gauze
Noran Fikri Alezabi, Xinyue Ma, and Yulin Yue won bronze at the Student Academy Awards for Gauze. This timely short from Gobelins Imagery School in France follows a young Palestinian swimmer named Zain (inspired by a real boy who tragically lost his life in Gaza) who attempts to provide for his little brother against a seemingly hopeless backdrop.
Few animated shorts have won more Oscar-qualifying prizes in the past year than Jocelyn Charles’ surreal train trip, God Is Shy. It’s received at least eight: 1) Best Jury Award - Short Films Competition - Annecy International Animation Film Festival, 2) Short Film Competition - Firebird Award - The Hong Kong International Film Festival, 3) First Prize European Competition - Alcine - Festival de Cine de Alcalá de Henares, 4) BIAF Grand Prize - Bucheon International Animation Festival, 5) Best Animated Short - Raindance Film Festival, 6) Best Animated Short - Fest Anča International Animation Festival, 7) Best Animation, International Competition - Interfilm International Short Film Festival Berlin, 8) Jury Award Best European Short Film - Leuven International Short Film Festival. Will the Oscars be the next stop?
Lilo & Scratch
Credit: Lilo & Scratch (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Over 20 years after Lilo & Stitch was nominated for Best Animated Feature, the franchise may return to the Oscars with Lilo & Scratch. Fawn Veerasunthorn and Malcon Pierce direct this fusion of hand-drawn and computer animation, which is getting a wide theatrical rollout with Disney’s Hexed.
Living with a Visionary
Oscar nominee James Cromwell and Katherine LaVictoire lend their voices to this marriage story of a man and his wife’s vivid hallucinations. Director Stephen P. Neary is something of a visionary himself, winning the Short Film Jury Award: Animation at the Sundance Film Festival.
Lysistrata 
Credit: Lysistrata (Animation Masterclass)
Oscar winner Richard Williams seemingly closed out his legendary career with the Best Animated Short nominee Prologue. Although Prologue was envisioned as a first step towards a feature based on the Greek play Lysistrata, Williams passed away four years later. However, Prologue’s story would continue in Lysistrata, a swan song that Williams’ wife and producer Imogen Sutton finally brought to the finish line. Williams could receive a posthumous Oscar nomination for Lysistrata, which was screened at Laemmle Glendale in L.A. for seven consecutive days (Sep 11 – Sep 17, 2026).
Melk
You’re never too old to fear your mother, as the protagonist of Melk finds when he kills her beloved fish. Filip Anthonissen won the Pardino d'Oro SRG SSR for the Best International Short Film at the Locarno International Film Festival, a first for animation.
Director Matthias Strasser accepted the silver Student Academy Awards for The Panic Inside, which he produced at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The short comes from a personal place, as Strasser sees a lot of himself in protagonist Jacob, a chronic people-pleaser.
Can Don Hertzfeldt finally shake his “2x Oscar loser” status with Paper Trail? This visual journey across time and art has already won him three Oscar-qualifying prizes: 1) The Cristal for a Short Film at Annecy International Animation Film Festival, 2) The Golden Gate Award for Best Animated Short at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and 3) The Animated Shorts Competition Jury Award at South by Southwest.
Paradaïz
Director Matea Radic pieces together childhood memories in Paradaïz, which won the Golden Dove - International Competition Short Animated Film at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film and Best Animated Short Film at the Warsaw International Film Festival. This Sarajevo-based story found its home at the National Film Board of Canada, which most recently produced the Oscar-winning The Girl Who Cried Pearls.
Please
Director Anna Mantzaris crafts a series of interconnecting stories about love and neediness in Please, which won Best Nordic Short Film at the Nordisk Panorama Film Festival. Among this stop-motion dark comedy’s voice cast is Oscar nominee Stellan Skarsgård.
Praying Mantis
Did you know that female praying mantises often engage in sexual cannibalism during/after mating? Director Joe Hsieh puts a fresh spin on this concept in Praying Mantis, which won Best Animated Short Film at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and, most recently, the Grand Prize for Short Animation at Ottawa International Animation Festival.
The Scarlet Tamagochi (El Tamagochi Escarlata)
Director Francisco Visceral Rivera blends a noir detective story with a Chilean classroom in El Tamagochi Escarlata, as young Iñaki and his turtle pal Cecilio try to solve the case of the stolen Scarlet Tamagotchi… or Tamagochi. It’s hardly a mystery why Rivera won the Latin American Animated Short Film Competition at the Chilemonos International Animation Festival.
Sulaimani
Director Vinnie Ann Bose utilizes stop-motion and 2D animation in Sulaimani, which sees two Indian women living in Paris reflect on their home country. Among Sulaimani’s Oscar-qualifying prizes are Best Animation at Aspen Shortsfest and Best Short Film at Manchester Animation Festival.
Susurros
Susurros hauntingly conveys the parallels between two women separated by almost four centuries who face the same issue: an unplanned pregnancy. Directors Alexandra Pewinski, Marie Lombard, Florian Reignier, Emma Pluchard, Lisa Francillon and Alice Parmentier won Best Animated Short Film at the Cleveland International Film Festival.
The Undying Pain of Existence
Being a nude model is one thing, but remaining perfectly still in your birthday suit becomes infinitely more nerve-wracking when a mosquito flies by. That’s the premise of Oscar Jacobson’s The Undying Pain of Existence, winner of Best Animated Short at the Atlanta Film Festival and the Stellar Award for Animation at the Thomas Edison Film Festival.
Don’t let their cute appearances fool you. These rabbits are a regular Bonnie and Clyde. With Violet and Marlowe Rob a Bank, director Wesley Wang channels John Wick, Wanted, and The Matrix, all in just three minutes. An especially short short that won big at the Tribeca Film Festival.
With Tapes and Toasts in the Car
The sky isn’t just falling in director Kiana Naghshineh’s film. Reality itself is collapsing for the terminally ill protagonist, who makes the most of the time she has left with tapes and toast in a car… and also a cosmonaut dog. This Miyu release has won five Oscar-qualifying prizes: 1) The International Animated Short Film Competition at Chilemonos International Animation Festival, 2) the Grand Jury Prize for Animated Short Film at Seattle International Film Festival, 3) Best Animation Short Film at HollyShorts Film Festival, 4) Best Short - Animation at Short Shorts Film Festival, and 5) the Grand Prix International Competition at Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film.
Stay tuned for more coverage of the Best Animated Short race over the coming months!
Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Available Now!
