2021 Awards Season Round-Up

It’s been a busy awards season as world-class talent from across Lucasfilm are honored for their work over the past year.

Three of our visual effects colleagues at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) won Scientific and Technical Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Gary Martinez and Robert Derry were recognized for the design, engineering, and integration of the Technoprops head-mounted camera system, which has been used on many productions since Avatar (2009). Stephen Bowline won for his work on the ILM HairCraft Dynamics System, an innovative technique for simulating hair.

The Mandalorian has received many nods, including a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Series (Drama) and a selection as one of the best television programs of the year at the American Film Institute (AFI) Awards. The crew at ILM earned three wins on 14 nominations at the Visual Effects Society Awards, and shared an Annie Award for Best Character Animation – Live Action with collaborators Image Engine.

With 15 total nominations, The Mandalorian won 7 Emmy Awards earlier this season, including:

• Outstanding Special Visual Effects:  Chapter 2: The Child
• Outstanding Cinematography for a Single Camera Series (half hour): Chapter 7: The Reckoning
• Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-hour) And Animation: Chapter 2: The Child
• Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (Half-hour) And Animation: Chapter 1: The Mandalorian
• Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Program (Half-hour): Chapter 1: The Mandalorian
• Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)
• Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series, Limited Series or Movie

Other accolades for The Mandalorian include nominations from the Directors Guild Awards, Art Directors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the Costume Designers Guild Awards, among others. The series also earned two Hugo Awards nominations from the World Science Fiction Convention. Baz Idoine won Best Cinematographer from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Awards for his work on “Chapter 13: The Jedi,” and a fan-favorite scene from another episode was nominated for Virgin Media’s Must-See Moment, which you can vote for ahead of the BAFTAs on June 6.

The audio masters at Skywalker Sound earned not one but two Academy Award nominations for their work on Soul and Mank. They took home three Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Awards from nine nominations for their work on The Mandalorian, Soul, and the documentary The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. They also earned 19 nominations and multiple wins at the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MSPE) Golden Reel awards, a BAFTA nomination for Soul, and multiple Satellite Award nominations.

Lucasfilm Animation was honored with a Producers Guild Awards nomination for Outstanding Children’s Program (Star Wars: The Clone Wars). Composer Kevin Kiner also took home an Annie Award for his work on the episode “Victory and Death” in the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Earlier in the season, Star Wars Resistance earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Children’s Program.

Our colleagues at StarWars.com have picked up three nominations at the Webby Awards for Branded Entertainment – Series (Jedi Temple Challenge), Branded Entertainment – Diversity and Inclusion (Star Wars Families), and Best Entertainment App (The Star Wars App). You can vote for the Webbys here! The Star Wars Show team also picked a Daytime Emmy nomination for their sequence, Star Wars Animals: The Trench Run.

Additionally, our consumer products teams received five wins at the Toy of the Year Awards including Toy of the Year for The Child Animatronic Edition Toy. The Lucasfilm Publishing team also won a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Comic Book for Star Wars: Doctor Aphra.

Congratulations to all the Lucasfilm winners and nominees for one busy and successful year. The Force is strong with you!