On the 16th of February, the Visual Effects Society announced their picks for the best of 2022.  The winners and nominees are listed below but there’s a lot of them so let me quickly give you the TL;DR version:

Avatar: The Way of Water swept the awards and will likely go home with at least one Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water – Richard Baneham, Walter Garcia, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, JD Schwalm
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Christian Mänz, Olly Young, Benjamin Loch, Stephane Naze, Alistair Williams
Jurassic World: Dominion – David Vickery, Ann Podlozny, Jance Rubinchik, Dan Snape, Paul Corbould
The Batman – Dan Lemmon, Bryan Searing, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands, Dominic Tuohy
Top Gun: Maverick – Ryan Tudhope, Paul Molles, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, Scott Fisher

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Death on the Nile – George Murphy, Claudia Dehmel, Mathieu Raynault, Jonathan Bowen, David Watkins
I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Paul Norris, Tim Field, Don Libby, Andrew Simmonds
The Fabelmans – Pablo Helman, Jennifer Mizener, Cernogorods Aleksei, Jeff Kalmus, Mark Hawker
The Gray Man – Swen Gilberg, Viet Luu, Bryan Grill, Cliff Welsh, Michael Meinardus
The Pale Blue Eye – Jake Braver, Catherine Farrell, Tim Van Horn, Scott Pritchard, Jeremy Hays
Thirteen Lives – Jason Billington, Thomas Horton, Denis Baudin, Michael Harrison, Brian Cox

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Aaron Weintraub, Jeffrey Schaper, Cameron Carson, Emma Gorbey,
Mad God – Chris Morley, Phil Tippett, Ken Rogerson, Tom Gibbons
Strange World – Steve Goldberg, Laurie Au, Mark Hammel, Mehrdad Isvandi
The Bad Guys – Pierre Perifel, Damon Ross, Matt Baer, JP Sans
The Sea Beast – Joshua Beveridge, Christian Hejnal, Stirling Duguid, Spencer Lueders
Turning Red – Domee Shi, Lindsey Collins, Danielle Feinberg, Dave Hale

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
House of the Dragon “The Black Queen” – Angus Bickerton, Nikeah Forde, Sven Martin, Michael Bell, Michael Dawson
Prehistoric Planet “Ice Worlds” – Lindsay McFarlane, Fay Hancocks, Elliot Newman, Kirstin Hall
Stranger Things 4 “The Piggyback” – Jabbar Raisani, Terron Pratt, Niklas Jacobson, Justin Mitchell, Richard E. Perry
The Boys “Payback” – Stephan Fleet, Shalena Oxley-Butler, Tristan Zerafa, Anthony Paterson, Hudson Kenny
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Udûn” – Jason Smith, Ron Ames, Nigel Sumner, Tom Proctor, Dean Clarke

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Five Days at Memorial “Day Two” – Eric Durst, Danny McNair, Matt Whelan, Goran Pavles, John MacGillivray
See “I See You” – Chris Wright, Parker Chehak, Tristan Zerafa, Oscar Perea, Tony Kenny
Severance “Pilot” – Vadim Turchin, Nicole Melius, David Piombino, David Rouxel
The Old Man “Episode III” – Erik Henry, Matt Robken, Jamie Klein, Sylvain Théroux, J.D. Streett
Vikings: Valhalla “The Bridge” – Ben Mossman, Melanie Callaghan, Matt Schofield, Chris Cooper, Paul Byrne

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
God of War: Ragnarok – Christopher Lloyd, Carrie Watts, James Adkins, Kevin Huynh
Gotham Knights – Jay Evans, Bryan Theberge, Mathieu Houle, Alexandre Bélanger
Supermassive Games “The Quarry” – Aruna Inversin, Paul Pianezza, Kevin Williams, Kimberly Cheifer
The Callisto Protocol – Glen Schofield, Steve Papoutsis, Chris Stone, Demetrius Leal
The Last of Us Part I – Erick Pangilinan, Evan Wells, Eben Cook, Mary Jane Whiting

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
B&Q “Flip” – Patrick Krafft, Holly Treacy, Alex Snookes
Frito-Lay “Push It” – Tom Raynor, Sophie Harrison, Ben Cronin, Martino Madeddu
Ladbrokes “Rocky” – Greg Spencer, Alex Fitzgerald, Mickey O’Donoghue, Adame Boutrif
Minions: The Rise of Gru – Gerome Viavant, Gilles de Lusignan, Benjamin Le Ster
Virgin Media “Highland Rider” – Amir Bazzazi, George Reid, Sebastian Caldwell, Alex Kulikov

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
ABBA: Voyage – Ben Morris, Edward Randolph, Stephen Aplin, Ian Comley
Avengers: Quantum Encounter – Alan Woods, Bernice Howes, Scott Sohan, Jason Fox
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind – Christopher Smith, Meghan Short, William George, Jon Alexander
Jumanji: The Adventure – Martin Cutbill, Liam Thompson, Baptiste Roy, Marco Parenzi
Star Wars: Galactic Star Cruiser – Rob Blue, Patrick Kearney, Khatsho Orfali, Gabe Sabourin, Daniel Joseph
Stranger Things: The Experience – Javier Roca, Antoine Sitruk, Cale Jacox, Julien Forest, Camille Michaud

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water: Kiri – Anneka Fris, Rebecca Louise Leybourne, Guillaume Francois, Jung-Rock Hwang
Beast: Lion – Alvise Avati, Bora Şahin, Chris McGaw, Krzysztof Boyoko
Disney’s Pinocchio: Honest John – Christophe Paradis, Valentina Rosselli, Armita Khanlarpour, Kyoungmin Kim
Slumberland: Pig – Fernando Lopes Herrera, Victor Dinis, Martine Chartrand, Lucie Martinetto

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Geppetto – Charles Greenfield, Peter Saunders, Shami Lang-Rinderspacher, Noel Estevez-Baker
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Pinocchio – Oliver Beale, Richard Pickersgill, Brian Leif Hansen, Kim Slate
Strange World: Splat – Leticia Gillett, Cameron Black, Dan Lipson, Louis Jones
Turning Red: Panda Mei – Christopher Bolwyn, Ethan Dean, Bill Sheffler, Kureha Yokoo

OUTSTANDING ANIMATED CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: She-Hulk – Elizabeth Bernard, Jan Philip Cramer, Edwina Ting, Andrew Park
Skull & Bones: Sam – Jonas Skoog, Jonas Törnqvist, Goran Milic, Jonas Vikström
The Callisto Protocol: Jacob Lee – Martin Contel, Glauco Longhi, Jorge Jimenez, Atsushi Seo
The Umbrella Academy: Pogo – AIdan Martin, Hannah Dockerty, Olivier Beierlein, Miae Kang

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water: Metkayina Village – Ryan Arcus, Lisa Hardisty, Paul Harris TaeHyoung David Kim
Avatar: The Way of Water: The Reef – Jessica Cowley, Joe W. Churchill, Justin Stockton, Alex Nowotny
Jurassic World: Dominion: Biosyn Valley – Steve Ellis, Steve Hardy, Thomas Dohlen, John Seru
Slumberland: The Wondrous Cuban Hotel Dream – Daniël Dimitri Veder, Marc Austin, Pavan Rajesh Uppu, Casey Gorton

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: In the Stomach of a Sea Monster – Warren Lawtey, Anjum Sakharkar, Javier Gonzalez Alonso, Quinn Carvalho
Lightyear: T’Kani Prime Forest – Lenora Acidera, Amy Allen, Alyssa Minko, Jose L. Ramos Serrano
Strange World: The Windy Jungle – Ki Jong Hong, Ryan Smith, Jesse Erickson, Benjamin Fiske
The Sea Beast: The Hunting Ship – Yohan Bang, Enoch Ihde, Denil George Chundangal, John Wallace
Wendell & Wild: The Scream Fair – Tom Proost, Nicholas Blake, Colin Babcock, Matthew Paul Albertus Cross

OUTSTANDING CREATED ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Andor “Reckoning”: Ferrix – Pedro Santos, Chris Ford, Jeff Carson-Bartzis, Alex Murtaza
The Book of Boba Fett “In the Name of Honor”: Mos Espa – Daniel Schmid Leal, Phi Tran, Hasan Ilhan, Steve Wang
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Adar”: Númenor City – Dan Wheaton, Nico Delbecq, Dan LeTarte, Julien Gauthier
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Adrift”: Khazud Dûm – James Ogle, Péter Bujdosó, Lon Krung, Shweta Bhatnagar

OUTSTANDING VIRTUAL CINEMATOGRAPHY IN A CG PROJECT
ABBA: Voyage – Pär M. Ekberg, John Galloway, Paolo Acri, Jose Burgos
Avatar: The Way of Water – Richard Baneham, Dan Cox, Eric Reynolds, A.J Briones
Prehistoric Planet – Daniel Fotheringham, Krzysztof Szczepanski, Wei-Chuan Hsu, Claire Hill
The Batman: Rain Soaked Car Chase – Dennis Yoo, Michael J. Hall, Jason Desjarlais, Ben Bigiel

OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
Avatar: The Way of Water: The Sea Dragon – Sam Sharplin, Stephan Skorepa, Ian Baker, Guillaume Francois
The Sea Beast – Maxx Okazaki, Susan Kornfeld, Edward Lee, Doug Smith
Top Gun: Maverick: F-14 Tomcat – Christian Peck, Klaudio Ladavac, Aram Jung, Peter Dominik
Wendell & Wild: Dream Faire – Peter Dahmen, Paul Harrod, Nicholas Blake

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water: Fire and Destruction – Miguel Perez Senent, Xavier Martin Ramirez, David Kirchner, Ole Geir Eidsheim
Avatar: The Way of Water: Water Simulations – Johnathan M. Nixon, David Moraton, Nicolas Illingworth, David Caeiro Cebrian
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: City Street Flooding – Matthew Hanger, Alexis Hall, Hang Yang, Mikel Zuloaga
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Jesse Parker Holmes, Grayden Solman, Toyokazu Hirai, Rob Richardson

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
Lightyear – Alexis Angelidis, Chris Chapman, Jung-Hyun Kim, Keith Klohn
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – Derek Cheung, Michael Losure, Kiem Ching Ong, Jinguang Huang
Strange World – Deborah Carlson, Scott Townsend, Stuart Griese, Yasser Hamed
The Sea Beast – Spencer Lueders, Dmitriy Kolesnik, Brian D. Casper, Joe Eckroat

OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities: Graveyard Rats – Amit Khanna, Oleg Memukhin, Mario Marengo, Josh George
Stranger Things 4: Hawkins Destructive Fissures – Ahmad Ghourab, Gavin Templer, Rachel Ajorque, Eri Ohno
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: “Udûn” Volcano Destruction – Kurt Debens, Hamish Bell, Robert Kelly, Gabriel Roccisano
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: “Udûn” Water and Magma – Rick Hankins, Aron Bonar, Branko Grujcic, Laurent Kermel

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
Avatar: The Way of Water: Landing Rockets Forest Destruction – Miguel Santana Da Silva, Hongfei Geng, Jonathan Moulin, Maria Corcho
Avatar: The Way of Water: Water Integration – Sam Cole, Francois Sugny, Florian Schroeder, Jean Matthews
The Batman: Rainy Freeway Chase – Beck Veitch, Stephen Tong, Eva Snyder, Rachel E. Herbert
Top Gun: Maverick – Saul Davide Galbiati, Jean-Frederic Veilleux, Felix B. Lafontaine, Cynthia Rodriguez del Castillo

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
House of the Dragon “The Black Queen” Dance of Dragons – Kevin Friederichs, Sean Raffel, Florian Franke, Andreas Steinlein
Love, Death and Robots: Night of the Mini Dead – Tim Emeis, José Maximiano, Renaud Tissandié, Nacere Guerouaf
The Book of Boba Fett: “From the Desert Comes a Stranger” – Luke Alike, Peter Demarest, Tami Carter, Brandon McNaughton, Sirak Ghebremusse
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Udûn” Tirharad Cavalry Charge – Sornalingam P, Ian Copeland, Nessa Mingfang Zhang, Yuvaraj S

OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Cartier “Tank” – Stephane Pivron, Mathias Barday, Valentin Lesueur, Eric Lemains
Ladbrokes “Rocky” – Greg Spencer, Theajo Dharan, Georgina Ford, Jonathan Westley
Samsung “Playtime is Over” – Damien Canameras, Guillaume Dadaglio, Sébastien Podsiadlo, Christophe Plouvier
Samsung “The Spider and the Window” – Marta Carbonell Amela, Stefan Susemihl, Lonni Wong, Jiyoung Lee

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
Avatar: The Way of Water: Current Machine and Wave Pool – JD Schwalm, Richie Schwalm, Nick Rand, Robert Spurlock
Black Adam: Robotic Flight – JD Schwalm, Nick Rand, Andrew Hyde, Andy Robot
Mad God: Phil Tippett, Chris Morley, Webster Colcord, Johnny McLeod
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power “Adrift” Middle Earth Storm – Dean Clarke, Oliver Gee, Eliot Naimie, Mark Robson

OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT (AWARD SPONSORED BY AUTODESK)
A Calling. From the Desert to the Sea – Mario Bertsch, Max Pollmann, Lukas Löffler, Till Sander-Titgemeyer
Boom – Romain Augier, Charles Di Cicco, Gabriel Augerai, Laurie Pereira De Figueiredo
Macula – Hady Abou Ghazale, Lothaire Rialhe, Marta Rodriguez-Noriega Nava, Jules Machicot
Maronii – Maxime Guitet, Dimitri Allonneau, Lucas Plata, Ngoc Mai Nguyen

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Avatar: The Way of Water: Depth Comp – Dejan Momcilovic, Tobias B. Schmidt, Benny Edlund, Joshua Hardgrave
Avatar: The Way of Water: Facial System – Byungkuk Choi, Stephen Cullingford, Stuart Adcock, Marco Revelant
Avatar: The Way of Water: Water Toolset – Alexey Dmitrievich Stomakhin, Steve Lesser, Sven Joel Wretborn, Douglas McHale
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: 3D Printed Metal Armature – Richard Pickersgill, Glen Southern, Peter Saunders, Brian Leif Hansen
Turning Red: Profile Mover and CurveNets – Kurt Fleischer, Fernando de Goes, Bill Sheffler