Oscar Award for Special Achievement ( Special Achievement Award ) is a special award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It has been awarded since 1973 for achievements for which there are no separate categories, or for which there was no permanent annual category, such as awards for “ best visual effects ” and “ best editing of sound effects ” in some years were replaced by “Award for special achievements” .
In 2017, after a long break (at age 21), the American Film Academy resumed presentation of the award. Its last winner was director Alejandro G. Inarritu for creating a short film-installation of virtual reality “ Flesh and Sand ”. The prize was presented along with other special awards at the separate 9th Governors Awards ceremony .
List of Laureates
| Ceremony | Laureates | |
|---|---|---|
| • L. B. Abbott, A. D. Flowers (for visual effects) | " The Adventure of Poseidon " | |
| • Frank Brendel, Glen Robinson, Albert Whitlock (for visual effects) | Earthquake | |
| • Peter Berkos (for sound effects) | Hindenburg | |
| • Albert Whitlock, Glen Robinson (for visual effects) | ||
| • Carlo Rambaldi , Glen Robinson, Frank Van der Veer (for visual effects) | King Kong | |
| • L. B. Abbott, Glen Robinson, Matthew Jurisich (for visual effects) | “ Logan 's Flight ” | |
| • Ben Burtt (for creating voices and sounds of aliens, monsters and robots) | Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope | |
| • Frank E. Warner (for editing sound effects) | “ Close contacts of the third degree ” | |
| • Les Bowie, Colin Chilvers, Denis N. Coop, Roy Field, Derek Meddings, Zoran Perisic (for visual effects) | Superman | |
| • Alan Splet (for sound editing) | " Black Horse " | |
| • Brian Johnson, Richard Edland , Dennis Muren , Bruce Nicholson (for visual effects) | Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back » | |
| • Ben Burtt , Richard L. Anderson (for editing sound effects) | Indiana Jones: Finding the Lost Ark | |
| • Richard Edland , Dennis Muren , Ken Ralston , Phil Tippett (for visual effects) | Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi | |
| • Kay Rose (for editing sound effects) | River | |
| • Stephen Hunter Flick, John Contributed (for editing sound effects) | " Robot policeman " | |
| • Richard Williams (for directing animation and creating animated characters) | " Who Framed Roger Rabbit " | |
| • Eric Brevig, Rob Bottin , Tim McGovern, Alex Funke (for visual effects) | “ Remember everything ” | |
| • John Lasseter (for creating the first full-length computer animated film) | Toy Story | |
| • Alejandro G. Iñarritu (for creating a short film-installation of virtual reality ) [1] [2] | “ Flesh and Sand ” | |