Oscars: Disney's Encanto wins the Best animated feature film

Encanto, a Colombian-set musical from Walt Disney Animation Studios, won the Academy Award for the best-animated film, honoring directors Byron Howard and Jared Bush, as well as producers Yvett Merino, the first Latina to be nominated and win in the category, and Clark Spencer. Merino was ecstatic to be a part of a film that "placed beautiful, diverse characters front and centre," she said. The crew expressed gratitude to the Colombian people as well as the Disney Animation staff for their support.

It was Howard's and Walt Disney Animation Studios' president Spencer's second Oscar, having won the same category in 2017 for Disney's Zootopia. The Academy Awards first introduced the best-animated picture category in 2002. Encanto is Walt Disney Animation Studios' fourth Academy Award triumph, following Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Zootopia. With 11 victories from sibling firm Pixar, Disney now has a total of 15 Oscars for a best-animated picture.

Encanto was also nominated for original score for composer Germaine Franco, the first Latina to score a Disney animated feature and the first woman to score a Disney animated feature; and for original song for Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Dos Oruguitas," which was also his first song written in the Spanish language. (This was his second Oscar nomination; his first was for Disney's Moana's song "How Far I'll Go.") Miranda is one Oscar away from earning EGOT status, but he did not attend the ceremony since his wife tested positive for COVID-19.

Encanto took first place in the animated feature category, beating out Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, Disney/Luca, Pixar's Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix's The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and Neon and Participant's Flee from Neon and Participant, which made Oscar history by becoming the first film to be nominated for best-animated feature, best documentary, and best international feature.