Game of Thrones Nabs Four Wins at the Visual Effects Society Awards

Last night, the Visual Effects Society Awards were held in Los Angeles at the The Beverly Hilton Hotel. This was the Visual Effects Society’s 14th annual awards show since its formation in 1997, and the fifth year that Game of Thrones was honored by the group. The show has taken home awards at this event every year since it started airing in 2011, when it took home the prize in Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program for the pilot episode, “Winter is Coming.” Since then, the show have won for episodes like Season 2’s “Valar Morghulis,” Season 3’s “Valar Dohaeris,” and Season 4’s “The Children.”

This year, Game of Thrones Season 5 had nine nominations, the most of any program, and up from last year when it was only had five.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode

    Childhood’s End — “Night Three”
    Game of Thrones — “The Dance of Dragons” (winner)
    Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — “Arabella”
    Nezlamna — “Sea Dogfight”
    The Strain — “Identity”

Outstanding Animated Performance in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project

    Game of Thrones — “The Dance of Dragons” — Drogon Arena Rescue
    Game of Thrones — “Mother’s Mercy” — Wounded Drogon
    SSE — “Pier” — Orangutan
    Sainsbury’s — Mog

Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project

    Black Sails — Charles Town Harbor
    Game of Thrones — City of Volantis (winner)
    Game of Thrones — Drogon Arena
    Vikings — Paris

Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project

    Game of Thrones — “Hardhome” (winner)
    Halo 5 — “The Hunt Begins”
    Lipton — “The Revolution in Tea”
    SSE — “Pier”

Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode

    Game of Thrones — Drogon Arena
    Game of Thrones — Drogon Lair
    Game of Thrones — “Hardhome” (winner)
    Vikings — “To the Gates”

Three episodes were nominated by name: “Hardhome,” “The Dance of Dragons,” and “Mother’s Mercy.” Stand-alone effects that received nominations included the Bridge of Volantis, seen in “High Sparrow,” Drogon’s arrival in Daznak’s Pit, and Drogon licking his wounds after Dany rode him out of Meereen.

Of these nine nominations, the show took home four wins. The biggest win was for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode, which went to Episode 9, “The Dance of Dragons.” It also picked up a win in the Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project category, for the City of Volantis. “Hardhome,” by itself, picked up two awards: Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Episode, Commercial or Real-Time Project; and Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Episode. That final category was a near lock for the program—Game of Thrones took up three of the four nomination slots.

Congrats to everyone who worked on those episodes. We can’t wait to see what amazing effects we’ll get to see in Season 6.

h/t Variety