KPop Demon Hunters bags 10 wins to top 53rd Annie Awards

It was a ‘golden’ night for KPop Demon Hunters at the 53rd Annual Annie Awards last Saturday, February 21.

The 53rd Annual Annie Awards, which celebrated 2025's best in animation ceremony was held  at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California celebrating the year’s best in animation.

KPop Demon Hunters led the ceremony with 10 wins, including Best Music (KPop Demon Hunters Music Team) and Best Editorial (KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team). 

The Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation film, produced by Michelle Wong and animated by Imageworks, also received awards for Best Writing (Danya Jimenes, Hannah McMechan, Kang, and Appelhans), Best Production Design - Feature (Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, and Celine Kim), Best Character Design (Scott Watanabe and Ami Thompson), Best Character Animation (Ryusuke Furuya), Best FX (FX Production Company: Sony Pictures Imageworks: Flippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Corbaux, Naoki Kato, and Daniel La Chapelle), Best Feature (KPop Demon Hunters, Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix), and Best Direction (Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans). 

The award for Best Direction was presented by Filipino actress Liza Soberano, who is now based in the US. Soberano also joined DreamWorks Animation’s director Joel Crawford and Filipino-American director Januel Mercado during the award ceremony.

One of the evening’s standout moments came when Korean-American actress Arden Cho won Best Voice Acting - Feature for her role as Rumi.

 Dressed in a blue glittering gown, Cho's heartfelt and candid speech was warmly  applauded by the audience.“To all our writers and animators, thank you so much for creating Rumi in this world,” Cho said.

“The production design and everything is just so incredible. I feel like I wish I could live in the KPop Demon Hunters world. But thank you so much for creating such a character that resonates with so many people and for allowing me to be a part of this journey," she added.

Cast members Korean-American actresses May Hong  (voice of Mira) and Ji-young Yoo (voice of Zoey) were also in attendance, celebrating alongside the film’s directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans.

The song “Golden,” performed by Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami as the voices of HUNTR/X from KPop Demon Hunters, recently became the first K-pop song to win Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2026 Grammy Awards.

screen grab from Netflix photos