Which Academy Award did Avatar: Fire and Ash win at the 98th Oscars?

Avatar: Fire and Ash won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 98th Oscars.

The award was presented on March 15, 2026, recognizing the work of Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett. Their achievement continued the Avatar series’ strong Oscar history in visual effects: the 2009 original and Avatar: The Way of Water also won in the category.

Best Visual Effects honors the artists and technical teams who create or integrate computer-generated imagery, digital environments, creatures, simulations, and other screen imagery. For Fire and Ash, that work helped realize Pandora, the Na’vi clans, airborne vessels, aquatic life, and the film’s fire-and-ash imagery.

The film was also nominated for Best Costume Design at the same ceremony, but it did not win that category. It was not nominated for Best Picture, Best Film Editing, or Best Costume Design as a winner. The precise answer is therefore Best Visual Effects, not a broader description such as “the visual-effects Oscar.”