The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year 1931–32, to the present.

From 1932 until 1970, the category was known as Short Subjects, Cartoons; and from 1971 to 1973 as Short Subjects, Animated Films. The present title began with the 46th Awards in 1974. During the first 5 decades of the award's existence, awards were presented to the producers of the shorts. Current Academy rules, however, call for the award to be presented to "the individual person most directly responsible for the concept and the creative execution of the film." Moreover, "[i]n the event that more than one individual has been directly and importantly involved in creative decisions, a second statuette may be awarded."^[1]

Only American films were nominated for the award until the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) was nominated for The Romance of Transportation in Canada in 1952. The first non-English-language international short to win was Zagreb Film's Ersatz (The Substitute) in 1961.

The first film to win in this category was Flowers and Trees by Walt Disney, who has since held the category's record for most nominations (39) and most wins (12).^[2][3] MGM's Tom and Jerry (1940–67) is the category's most lauded animated series over all, being nominated for a total of 13 Oscars and winning 7. Warner Bros.'s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies series also had a big amount of 16 Oscar nominations and winning 5. Among international studios, the NFB has the most wins in this category, with 6 Oscars. The biggest showing from Britain in this category is Nick Park, with three wins: 1 for Creature Comforts and 2 for the Wallace and Gromit series.

The Academy defines short as being "not more than 40 minutes, including all credits."^[4] Fifteen films are shortlisted before nominations are announced. In the listings below, the title shown in boldface was the winner of the award in that given year, followed by the other nominees for that year.

All bars that are highlighted yellow were winners—with the title and name shown in boldface.

• Submissions for Best Animated Short Academy Award
• List of animation awards
• BAFTA Award for Best Short Film
• The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals
• List of animated short films
• Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
• Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
  • Submissions for Best Animated Feature Academy Award
• List of Academy Awards for Walt Disney
• Arthouse animation
• Independent animation
• Adult animation

For this Academy Award category, the following superlatives emerge:^[3]

The following is a list of animation studios or animators that earned multiple nominations and awards in this category.

Animation historian Jerry Beck posted, on Cartoon Research, lists of animated shorts from various studios considered for nomination beginning with 1948—as documents prior could not be located—and ending so far with 1986.^[11][12]

Between those years, the following documentations were also missing: 1949, 1950, 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985.^[13][14][15]