Highlights
- The 54th Annie Awards have opened submissions for the 2027 ceremony, with the deadline ending in November.
- Annie 2027 is introducing a new Best International Anime Production for TV/Media category.
- The 2027 ceremony will take place at UCLA's Royce Hall in February 2027.
The 54th Annie Awards officially opened submissions on Aug 3, 2026, with organizer ASIFA-Hollywood introducing a total of 37 award categories. For the first time, the awards will include Best International Anime Production for TV/Media, expanding the program’s reach ahead of the 2027 ceremony.
Annie Awards Executive Producer Michael Paxton said the category “shall be given to a worldwide TV/Media production that features Anime-centric elements that are inspired, styled and/or designed employing traditional anime techniques, tropes and/or themes,” as per the press release.
Apart from the new category, the 54th cycle otherwise follows the Annies’ established structure, honoring work across categories spanning animated features, television, student films, short subjects, and sponsored productions. Submissions are now being accepted through the Annie Awards’ online portal for productions meeting the 2026 eligibility window.
The 2027 Annie Awards will be awarded next year with a ceremony at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Feb 20. The organization has also released its annual calendar covering submission deadlines, judge selection, juried awards, and voting procedures leading up to next year’s ceremony.
The 54th Annie Awards Call for Submissions and Judges
ASIFA-Hollywood has a tiered submission schedule for the 54th Annie Awards. Call for Juried Award nominations have also started. Following the start of ‘Call for Submission’ in August, the early submission ends on Sep 7, 2026.
The standard deadline for submitting entries is scheduled for Oct 12, with the final submission deadline on Nov 30, wrapping the award section. Call for Judges will open on Aug 31, 2026.
Oct 12 will also mark the deadline for the ‘Call for Judges’ and for submitting titles for the Juried Award. Annie Awards judges are not required to be ASIFA-Hollywood members, but they must hold an established career and professional credentials in at least one Annie category, as per the submission guidelines.
The nominees for all award categories, including the Juried awards, will be announced on Jan 20, 2027. The online ballot will begin on Feb 8 and will run till Feb 14, 2026, roughly a week before the main ceremony.
2027 Annie Awards Event Details
The ceremony returns to California’s UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday, Feb 20, 2027. The award ceremony starts at 7 pm PST, with pre-reception and Press Line beginning at 4:30 pm PST.
The 2027 Annie Awards ceremony will be followed by an after-party, following its usual structure. VIP tickets will be offered through its official portal, starting from Dec 7, 2026.
The Annie Awards remain animation’s longest-running dedicated honors program, predating the television and streaming boom. Since their launch in 1972, the awards have brought together animation studios, creators, producers, and professionals from around the world to celebrate the format’s achievements. Additionally, the new anime category validates a shift that industry data and awards patterns have signaled in recent years, with a dedicated category to formalize Japanese anime or anime-adjacent productions.
