Tokyo Anime Award Festival (東京アニメアワードフェスティバル)

Tokyo Anime Award Festival

東京アニメアワードフェスティバル

Also known as: TAAF
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The Tokyo Anime Award Festival (TAAF) grew out of the Tokyo Anime Award, which ran within the Tokyo International Anime Fair from 2002 to 2013, and became an independent international animation festival in 2014. It is organised by the TAAF Executive Committee and The Association of Japanese Animations and co-hosted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government; after its first editions in Nihonbashi, it has been based in Ikebukuro since 2017.

The festival combines an international competition of feature and short animation not yet commercially released in Japan, judged on originality, innovative vision, popular appeal and technique, with Anime of the Year, chosen by fan and industry votes from works released in Japan, and an Achievement Award for people who shaped the animation industry. The short competition includes a Best Student Film award for students in Japan. The 2020 edition was cancelled because of COVID-19. The most recent edition took place on 13–16 March 2026 in Ikebukuro; the organisers have announced that the festival will be relaunched in a new form from 2027.

Country

Japan

Focus

Animation

Categories

Animation, Feature, Short

Awards and prizes

Competition, Feature Animation: Grand Prize (500,000 yen), Award of Excellence (100,000 yen). Competition, Short Animation: Grand Prize (500,000 yen), Award of Excellence (100,000 yen), Toshima City Award, Best Student Film (100,000 yen, since 2021, for students of educational institutions in Japan). In 2026 the Grand Prize winners also received the Tokyo Governor's Award. Anime of the Year: Best Film awards, Individual Awards and the Anime Fan Award, based on fan and industry votes. Achievement Award: honours people who have made significant contributions to the animation industry.

Festival rules

Competition for animated films of any technique, professional, amateur or student, that have not been theatrically released, streamed for a fee, broadcast or otherwise distributed for profit in Japan before the festival; festival screenings and previews do not count. Feature Animation: 60 minutes or longer. Short Animation: under 30 minutes. Films of 30 to 60 minutes are entered as features first, and the TAAF office decides the category. For TAAF2026, short films had to be completed on or after 1 January 2024; films nominated at TAAF before are not accepted. Submission online through the TAAF application form with an MP4 screener; films with dialogue need English subtitles and an English dialogue list. No submission fee. Regulations (TAAF2026): https://animefestival.jp/en/award/competition/short_regulations/

Contacts

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