Warner Bros’ awards-season combatants Sinners and One Battle After Another and Netflix’s toon phenom KPop Demon Hunters took the top film prizes at 2026 annual ACE Eddie Awards, which were handed out Friday night at UCLA’s Royce Hall. See the full winners list below.
Sinners editor Michael P. Shawver took the Eddie Award for Best Edited Feature Drama, and One Battle’s Andy Jurgensen took the Feature Comedy prize. Both are up for Best Editing at the Academy Awards on March 15, where they will compete against Stephen Mirrione (F1), Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme) and Olivier Bugge Coutté (Sentimental Value).
Since the turn of the 21st century, the Eddie winner for theatrical drama has gone on to score the Academy Award for Best Editing 14 of 26 times — but only once in the past five years, for Oppenheimer. Wicked and Emilia Pérez took the top film honors at the 2025 Eddies, with Anora‘s Sean Baker going on the win the Oscar for Best Film Editing.
The night’s first big film prize went to Nathan Schauf of the awards-season juggernaut KPop Demon Hunters for Best Edited Animated Feature. The Netflix pic is hot off its sweep at the Annie Awards and a VES Award this week.
On the TV side, the Best Edited Drama Series prize went to HBO Max’s The Pitt, which won the Drama Series Emmy in September, and HBO’s The Penguin took the Limited Series award. Another 2025 Emmy winner, Apple TV’s The Studio, won the trophy for Single Camera Series, and CBS’ now-wrapped Frasier got the Multi-Camera category.
The documentary categories were handed out first, with The Perfect Neighbor winning for film and HBO’s Pee-wee as Himself taking the TV prize.
Other winners included the editors behind the wonderfully controversial “Twisted Christian” episode of South Park for Best Edited Animated Series, Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special for Variety Talk/Sketch Show or Special, Conan O’Brien Must Go for Non-Scripted Series and All the Empty Rooms for Best Edited Short. A Winter’s Song won for Best Edited Feature Film (Non-Theatrical).
The editors group presented a handful of special honors tonight.
Two-time Oscar winner Ang Lee will receive the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award. Along with his Best Director wins for Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain, Lee’s many films include Gemini Man (2019), Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016), Lust, Caution (2007), Hulk (2003), Sense and Sensibility (1995) and The Wedding Banquet (1993). His Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), The Ice Storm (1997) and Taking Woodstock (2009) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, as did Couching Tiger.
Emmy-winning Law & Order editor-director Arthur Forney, who also has eight other Emmy noms for the NBC franchise’s mothership series, accepted the first of two ACE Career Achievement awards. The prize was presented by longtime L&O franchise stars Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni. Forney other credits include hundreds of episodes of Law & Order: SVU and Organized Crime along with NBC’s Chicago P.D., Med and Fire and CBS’ FBI.
Oscar-nominated editor Robert Leighton received the other Career Achievement, presented by Christopher Guest, who directed three films he edited: Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. Leighton’s dozens of film credits also include Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men — for which Leighton got his Oscar nom — This Is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally…, Stand by Me and The Princess Bride along with Bull Durham, Misery, Ghosts of Mississippi, Shall We Dance? and Now You See Me.
The ACE Visionary Award went to YouTube and was be accepted by Kim Larson, Managing Director and Head of the Creator and Gaming team. The award was presented by Michele Khare, host of the popular YouTube docuseries Challenge Accepted.
The In Memoriam segment included tributes to Reiner, Chris Willingham, Don Zimmerman, Jane Kass, William Steinkamp, Alan C. Marks, John Soh and Ted Woerner.
Deli Boys star and Wrecked alum Asif Ali hosted the ceremony.
Here are the 2026 ACE Eddie Awards:
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (Drama, Theatrical)
Sinners
Michael P. Shawver
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (Comedy, Theatrical)
One Battle After Another
Andy Jurgensen
BEST EDITED FEATURE FILM (NON-THEATRICAL)
A Winter’s Song
Yvette M. Amirian
BEST EDITED ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
KPop Demon Hunters
Nathan Schauf
BEST EDITED MULTI-CAMERA COMEDY SERIES
Frasier (Murder Most Finch)
Russell Griffin
BEST EDITED SINGLE CAMERA COMEDY SERIES
The Studio (The Promotion)
Eric Kissack
BEST EDITED LIMITED SERIES
The Penguin (A Great or Little Thing)
Henk van Eeghen
BEST EDITED DRAMA SERIES
The Pitt (6pm)
Mark Strand
BEST EDITED ANIMATED SERIES
South Park (Twisted Christian)
David List, Nate Pellettieri
BEST EDITED SHORT
All the Empty Rooms
Erin Casper, Stephen Maing, Jeremy Medoff
BEST EDITED NON-SCRIPTED SERIES
Conan O’Brien Must Go (Austria)
Matthew Shaw, Brad Roelandt
BEST EDITED VARIETY TALK/SKETCH SHOW OR SPECIAL
Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special
Paul Del Gesso, Christopher Salerno, Ryan Spears, Sean Mcilraith, Ryan Mcilraith, Daniel Garcia
BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Perfect Neighbor
Viridiana Lieberman
BEST EDITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Pee-wee as Himself – Part One
Damian Rodriguez
ANNE V. COATES AWARD FOR STUDENT EDITING
Luis Barragan – California State University, Fullerton
