Avatar: The Way of Water sweeps 2022 Visual Effects Society awards

When the nominations for the 2022 Visual Effects Society awards were announced last month, no-one likely expected any movie other than Avatar: The Way of Water to lead the nominations. And that it did in style, besting its predecessor's record nomination haul by four. Now, it bests The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' win haul by one, winning in all categories where it was eligible. It claims nine VES awards, while the animated categories are dominated by Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, which wins three. All the details below.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Avatar: The Way of Water (Richard Baneham, Walter Garcia, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon and J. D. Schwalm)

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Thirteen Lives (Denis Baudin, Jason Billington, Brian Cox, Michael Harrison and Thomas Horton)

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Cameron Carson, Emma Gorbey, Jeffrey Schaper and Aaron Weintraub)

Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal Project

Avatar: The Way of Water (Nick Rand, J. D. Schwalm, Richie Schwalm and Robert Spurlock) - Current machine and wave pool

Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project

Avatar: The Way of Water (Richard Baneham, A. J. Briones, Dan Cox and Eric Reynolds)

Outstanding Composition and Lighting in a Feature

Avatar: The Way of Water (Sam Cole, Jean Matthews, Florian Schroeder and Francois Sugny) Water integration

Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project

Avatar: The Way of Water (Ian Baker, Guillaume Francois, Sam Sharplin and Stephan Skorepa) - The sea dragon

Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature

Avatar: The Way of Water (Ryan Arcus, Lisa Hardisty, Paul Harris and David Kim Tae Hyoung) - Metkayina village

Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Quinn Carvalho, Javier Gonzalez Alonso, Warren Lawtey and Anjum Sakharkar) - In the stomach of a sea monster

Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature

Avatar: The Way of Water (David Caeiro Cebrian, Nicolas Illingworth, David Moraton and Johnathan M. Nixon) - Water simulations

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Derek Cheung, Huang Jin Guang, Michael Losure and Ong Kiem Ching)

Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature

Avatar: The Way of Water (Guillaume Francois, Anneka Fris, Hwang Jung Rock and Rebecca Louise Leybourne) - Kiri

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Oliver Beale, Brian Leif Hansen, Richard Pickersgill and Kim Slate) - Pinocchio

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

A Calling. From the Desert to the Sea (Mario Bertsch, Lukas Loffler, Max Pollmann and Till Sander-Titgemeyer)

Emerging Technology Award

Avatar: The Way of Water (Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin, Steve Lesser, Douglas McHale and Sven Joel Wretborn) - Water toolset

Certificate of Merit Award

John Omohundro

Ub Iwerks Award

Visual Effects Reference Platform

Winsor McCay Award

Pete Docter

Evelyn Lambart

Craig McCracken