The most important and inherent element of the Festival is the International Animated Film Competition which offers a unique opportunity to discover a selection of the latest short and feature animated films. The International Competition has accompanied the Festival since its conception.

Every year, during the call for entires, over 2500 films from all over the world are submitted for consideration. Of these, several dozen productions are selected and are presented in front of an international jury and thousands of festival viewers. The teams behind the competing titles are invited to visit Poznan and partake in the festivities in person.

In 2017 ANIMATOR received the status of an Oscar® qualifying films festival.

This means that the winner of the Grand Prix - the Golden Pegasus - in the International Short Film Competition will be eligible for the selection of the annual Academy Awards in the Animated Short Film category without the required standard theatrical distribution, provided that the film meets the other requirements of the Academy.

The year 2021 saw the debut of the International Animated Series Competition as a response to the overwhelming popularity of the ANIMATED SERIES section of the Festival, inaugurated in 2017. The recipient of the special award in this category will be chosen from among a selection of single episodes of polish and foreign animated series – addressed to both children, as well as adult audiences.

You can read all about the winners in previous editions of the Festival in the archive.