Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
 

The Academy Awards are the oldest awards given to achievements in film; the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature was given the first time for the 2001 film year. It was introduced because the previous year, the people at the Academy Awards were disappointed that the hugely successful Chicken Run had not been nominated for Best Picture in 2000, so the Best Animated Feature category was introduced the following year. The creators of Chicken Run later went on to win Best Animated Feature in 2005 for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

The award is only given if there are at least eight animated feature films (with a theatrical release in Los Angeles). If there are 16 or more films submitted for the category, the winner will be voted from a shortlist of five films, otherwise there will only be three films on the shortlist.

People in the animation industry and fans expressed hope that the prestige from this award and the resulting boost to the box office would encourage the increased production of animated features.

List of winners and nominees

2005:Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Howl's Moving Castle
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
2004: The Incredibles
Shark Tale
Shrek 2
2003: Finding Nemo
Brother Bear
The Triplets of Belleville
2002: Spirited Away
Ice Age
Lilo & Stitch
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Treasure Planet
2001: Shrek
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Monsters, Inc.