Today, the Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s global professional honorary society, held the 14th Annual VES Awards, the prestigious yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, video games and special venues.  Comedian Patton Oswalt served as host to the more than 1000 guests gathered at the Beverly Hilton to celebrate VFX talent in 23 awards categories.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the big winner of the evening garnering four awards, with The Revenant close behind with three wins.  The teams from The Good Dinosaur (animated feature), Games of Thrones (photoreal episode) and SSE (commercial) led the wins in their respective categories, taking home three awards each.

Kate Mara accompanied by taped congratulations from Matt Damon and Juliana Margulies made a crowd-pleasing presentation to award-winning director-producer Sir Ridley Scott, recipient of the VES Lifetime Achievement Award.  Industry veteran Scott Ross presented the VES Visionary Award to acclaimed conceptual artist Syd Mead.  The show also featured a salute to ILM’s 40th anniversary. Awards presenters included directors Pete Docter and Zack Snyder, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Terry Crews, Michael Pena, Dennis Haysbert, Portia Doubleday, Erika Christensen, Camilla Luddington and Sharlto Copley.

Winners of the 14th Annual VES Awards are as follows:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Roger Guyett

Luke O'Byrne

Patrick Tubach

Paul Kavanagh

Chris Corbould

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

The Revenant

Rich McBride

Ivy Agregan

Jason Smith

Nicolas Chevallier

Cameron Waldbauer

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

The Good Dinosaur

Sanjay Bakshi

Denise Ream

Michael Venturini

Jon Reisch

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Game of Thrones; The Dance of Dragons

Joe Bauer

Steve Kullback

Eric Carney

Derek Spears

Stuart Brisdon

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

Vikings; To the Gates

Dominic Remane

Bill Halliday

Paul Wishart

Ovidiu Cinazan

Paul Byrne

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Real-Time Project

The Order: 1886

Nathan Phail-Liff

Dana Jan

Anthony Vitale

Scot Andreason

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

SSE; Pier

Neil Davies

Tim Lyall

Hitesh Patel

Jorge Montiel

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

Fast and Furious: Supercharged

Chris Shaw

Alysia Cotter

Ben White

Diego Guerrero

Outstanding Animated Performance in a Photoreal Feature

The Revenant; The Bear

Matt Shumway

Gaelle Morand

Karin Cooper

Leandro Estebecorena

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature

Inside Out; Joy

Shawn Krause

Tanja Krampfert

Jacob Merrell

Alexis Angelidis

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

SSE; Pier; Orangutan

Jorge Montiel

Sauce Vilas

Philippe Moine

Sam Driscoll

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase / Graveyard

Yanick Dusseault

Mike Wood

Justin van der Lek

Quentin Marmier

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

The Good Dinosaur; The Farm

David Munier

Matthew Webb

Matt Kuruc

Tom Miller

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

Game of Thrones; City of Volantis

Dominic Piche

Christine Leclerc

Patrice Poissant

Thomas Montminy-Brodeur

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Falcon Chase / Graveyard

Paul Kavanagh

Colin Benoit

Susumu Yukuhiro

Greg Salter

Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Star Wars: The Force Awakens; BB-8

Joshua Lee

Matthew Denton

Landis Fields

Cyrus Jam

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Mad Max: Fury Road; Toxic Storm

Dan Bethell

Clinton Downs

Chris Young

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

The Good Dinosaur

Stephen Marshall

Magnus Wrenninge

Michael Hall

Hemagiri Arumugam

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial, or Real-Time Project

Game of Thrones; Hardhome

David Ramos

Antonio Lado

Piotr Weiss

Félix Bergés

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature

The Revenant; Bear Attack

Donny Rausch

Alan Travis

Charles Lai

TC Harrison

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode

Game of Thrones; Hardhome

Eduardo Díaz

Guillermo Orbe

Oscar Perea

Inmaculada Nadela

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Commercial

SSE; Pier

Gary Driver

Greg Spencer

Grant Connor

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

Citipati

Andreas Feix

Francesco Faranna

About the Visual Effects Society
The Visual Effects Society is a professional global honorary society dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences and applications of visual effects and to upholding the highest standards and procedures for the visual effects profession. It is the entertainment industry's only official organization representing the extended global community of visual effects practitioners, including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators and studio executives.  VES’ more than 3,000 members in 30+ countries worldwide contribute to all areas of entertainment – film, television, commercials, animation, music videos, games and new media.   To learn more about the VES, visit www.visualeffectssociety.com.