European Animation Awards 2025: All Winners

In a warm animation ceremony (Tallinn, 16 November 2025), the 4th European Animation (Emile) Awards were given by the Emile Awards board (ceremony host: Kerdi Oengo, Nukufilm). Presented in association with PÖFF Shorts (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival), the awards presented their trophies in 10 animation categories, shorts, and feature animation films.

The Oscar-awarded 'Flow' by Gints Zilbalodis was predictably the big winner in the feature animation category, getting three awards (Best Backgrounds and Character Design in Feature Films, Best Soundtrack in a Feature Film, and Best of the Best in Feature Films). The Tallinn-premiered Hungarian animation feature 'Pelican Blue' by László Csáki won the Best Writing for a Feature Award; the Isabel Herguera feature 'Sultana's Dream' won the Best Animation in Feature Films Award.

In the shorts category, the standout 'I Died In Irpin' by  Anastasiia Falileieva (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine), which narrates the first days of the Russian invasion in Urkaine and its consequences in the personal lives of the characters, won the Best of the Best in Short Film.

4 other short animation films received honors in individual categories. Best Character design and Background in short films: JOKO by Izabela Plutcinska's stop-motion surrealist comedy 'Joko' got the Best Character design and Background in Short Films; the chilly but masterfully portrayed universe of human relationships in 'Winter' by Tomek Popakul and Kasumi Ozeki won the Best Sound Design and Music in short films (sound designer Michal Fojcik).

Another stop-motion film, the animation mockumentary 'Wander to Wonder' by Nina Gantz, won the Best Animation in Short Film Award. In the student category, Shadab Shayegan won the award for the Best Student Film with her 2D animation short 'Pear Garden', an ode to a relationship between a small girl and her ailing grandmother.

• Check all the previous 2025 European Animation Awards nominations

I Died in Irpin by Anastasiia Falileieva

The full list of 2025 European Animation Awards Winners

Feature Films

• Best Animation in Feature Films: SULTANA'S DREAM by Isabel Herguera
• Best soundtrack in a feature film: FLOW by Gints Zilbalodis
• Best Backgrounds and Character design in feature films: FLOW by Gints Zilbalodis
• Best Writing in Feature film: PELICAN BLUE by László Csáki
• Best of the Best in feature films: FLOW by Gints Zilbalodis

Short Films

• Best Character design and Backgrounds in short films: JOKO by Izabela Plutcinska
• Best Sound design and Music in short films: WINTER by Tomek Popakul and Kasumi Ozeki, sound designer Michal Fojcik
• Best Animation in Short Film: WANDER TO WONDER by Nina Ganz
• Best Student Film: PEAR GARDEN by Shadab Shayegan
• Best of the Best in Short Film: I DIED IN IRPIN by Anastasiia Falileieva

The Emile Awards Trophy, 'The Nail', was created by Nukufilm Studio (Estonia) as a tribute to Heino Pars’s 1972 eponymous film.

Along with the 2025 awards, a Lotte Reiniger Lifetime Achievement Award will also be presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to the world of animation. (1925–2014). The winner of the 2025 Lotte Reiniger Award will be honored on November 21, 2025, during the Black Nights Film Festival awards ceremony.

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