The 2026 film awards season is officially underway, and as ever, we’re diving straight into the categories that matter most to us: production design and set decoration. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing a series of design-focused roundups spotlighting the films and television shows whose worlds have been most richly imagined — through sets, locations, furniture and the countless visual decisions that shape how these stories are experienced.

From rigorously researched period environments to speculative futures, institutional power spaces to intensely personal domestic interiors, this year’s nominees once again demonstrate just how central design is to storytelling on screen. The work of production designers, set decorators and their art departments doesn’t simply support the narrative — it defines tone, psychology and meaning. These are the creatives who build the worlds we believe in, and we’re continually inspired by their ingenuity, craft and restraint.

Part 1 of our annual awards coverage focuses on three industry-led design awards: the Art Directors Guild (ADG) Awards, the Set Decorators Society of America (SDSA) Awards, and the British Film Designers Guild (BFDG) Awards. Unlike the Oscars, BAFTAs or Golden Globes, these honours are run by professional guilds and voted on by peers — designers, decorators and art department professionals who understand the realities of the work from the inside.

Focused exclusively on design, these awards are judged from within the departments themselves. They recognise not just scale or spectacle, but research, material intelligence, collaboration and the countless decisions that may never announce themselves on screen, yet shape everything we see. Taken together, the ADG, SDSA and BFDG nominations offer a particularly revealing snapshot of where screen design is right now — aesthetically, technically and culturally.

Across these three guild awards, a number of films emerge repeatedly, marking them out as strong design contenders this season. Hamnet and Frankenstein appear across all three bodies, while Bugonia and Wicked: For Good register across multiple categories. Elsewhere, The Phoenician Scheme, Marty Supreme, F1, One Battle After Another, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Avatar: Fire and Ash and Superman also recur across the ADG and SDSA nominations.

Historically, films recognised by the ADG, SDSA and BFDG often go on to feature prominently at the Academy Awards and the BAFTAs, making these guild nominations a useful early indicator of which design-led films are likely to carry momentum through the season.

As always, we’ll be complementing these lists with deeper editorial features, image-led analysis and video podcast interviews, exploring not just what these worlds look like, but why they look the way they do. Further coverage will follow later in the season, including the BAFTA and Academy Award nominations.

Let’s begin with the ADG Awards, before moving on to the SDSA and BFDG — and a closer look at the designers and films shaping some of the most compelling screen environments of the year.

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ADG Awards

The 30th Annual Art Directors Guild (ADG) Awards will take place on Saturday, 28 February 2026 at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. Presented by IATSE Local 800, the ADG Awards recognise excellence in production design across film, television and media, and are voted on by fellow designers and art department professionals.

Period Feature Film
Frankenstein – Production Designer: Tamara Deverell
Hamnet – Production Designer: Fiona Crombie
Marty Supreme – Production Designer: Jack Fisk
Sinners – Production Designer: Hannah Beachler
The Phoenician Scheme – Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen

Related Film and Furniture articles:
The Phoenician Scheme: A Visual Ode to European Elegance, Art, and Design
Stay tuned for exclusive features and video podcast interviews on the design and furniture of Hamnet and Frankenstein, coming soon.

Fantasy Feature Film:
Avatar: Fire and Ash – Production Designer: Dylan Cole / Ben Procter
Mickey 17 – Production Designer: Fiona Crombie
Superman – Production Designer: Beth Mickle
The Fantastic Four: First Steps – Production Designer: Kasra Farahani
Wicked: For Good – Production Designer: Nathan Crowley

Related Film and Furniture articles:
Midcentury Marvel: Inside the Retro-Futuristic Design of Fantastic Four: First Steps
Macro to Micro Magic: Behind the Film Sets of Wicked with Nathan Crowley

Contemporary Feature Film:
Bugonia – Production Designer: James Price
F1 – Production Designer: Ben Munro / Mark Tildesley
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – Production Designer: Gary Freeman
One Battle After Another – Production Designer: Florencia Martin
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – Production Designer: Rick Heinrichs

Related Film and Furniture articles:
Bugonia: Inside the bonkers, beautiful and brilliantly built worlds of Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest film

In the TV categories, the ADG Awards nominees include:
1923; House of Guinness; IT: Welcome to Derry; Palm Royale; The Gilded Age; Andor; Alien: Earth; The Last of Us; Stranger Things; Wednesday; Pluribus; Severance; The Pitt; The White Lotus; Adolescence; Black Mirror; Black Rabbit; Death by Lightning; Monster: The Ed Gein Story; Hacks; Murderbot; Only Murders in the Building; The Bear; The Studio; Mid-Century Modern; Poppa’s House; Vampirina: Teenage Vampire; Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.

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SDSA AWARDS

The 6th SDSA Awards honour the best in set decoration in film and television of 2025, as chosen by the Set Decorators Society of America. Winners will be announced on February 21, 2026. The nominations for the television categories will be revealed later in the year.

Contemporary Feature Film:
Bugonia – Set Decoration by Prue Howard. Production Design by James Price
F1 – Set Decoration by Andrew McCarthy SDSA & Véronique Melery. Production Design by Mark Tildesley & Ben Munro
Jay Kelly – Set Decoration by Véronique Melery & Meg Everist. Production Design by Mark Tildesley
One Battle After Another – Set Decoration by Anthony Carlino SDSA. Production Design by Florencia Martin
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – Set Decoration by Kathryn Pyle. Production Design by Rick Heinrichs

Period Feature Film:
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – Set Decoration by Linda Wilson. Production Design by Donal Woods
Hamnet – Set Decoration by Alice Felton SDSA. Production Design by Fiona Crombie
Marty Supreme – Set Decoration by Adam Willis. Production Design by Jack Fisk
Sinners – Set Decoration by Monique Champagne SDSA. Production Design by Hannah Beachler
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere – Set Decoration by Kris Moran. Production Design by Stefania Cella

Fantasy or Science Fiction Film
Avatar: Fire and Ash – Set Decoration by Vanessa Cole. Production Design by Dylan Cole & Ben Procter
The Fantastic Four: First Steps – Set Decoration by Jille Azis. Production Design by Kasra Farahani
Frankenstein – Set Decoration by Shane Vieau SDSA. Production Design by Tamara Deverell
How to Train Your Dragon – Set Decoration by Daniel Birt SDSA. Production Design by Dominic Watkins
Superman – Set Decoration by Rosemary Brandenburg SDSA. Production Design by Beth Mickle

Comedy or Musical Feature Film
Freakier Friday – Set Decoration by Brandi Kalish SDSA. Production Design by Kay Anna Lee
Kiss of the Spiderwoman – Set Decoration by Andrew Baseman SDSA. Production Design by Scott Chambliss
The Phoenician Scheme – Set Decoration by Anna Pinnock. Production Design by Adam Stockhausen
Roofman – Set Decoration by Kendall Anderson SDSA. Production Design by Inbal Weinberg
Wicked: For Good – Set Decoration by Lee Sandales. Production Design by Nathan Crowley

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BFDG AWARDS

The 15th BFDG Production Design Awards will be held on Saturday, February 28, 2026 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, celebrating outstanding work in film and TV production design from 2025 productions.

Feature Film categories

Feature Film – Period
Anemone – PD: Chris Oddy, SAD: Heather Noble, SD: Neil Floyd
Steve – PD: Paki Smith, SAD: Nigel Pollock, SD: Johnny Byrne
The Choral – PD: Peter Francis, SAD: Astrid Sieben, SD: Julie Graysmark

Feature Film – Contemporary
Grow – PD: Jamie Morgan Lapsley, SAD: Gordon Rogers, SD: Laurel Wear
My Oxford Year – PD: Catrin Meredydd, SAD: Fabrice Spelta, SD: Jo Delo
The Thing with Feathers – PD: Suzie Davies, SAD: Elena Real Davies, SD: Charlotte Dirickx

Feature Film – Fantasy
Dust Bunny – PD: Jeremy Reed, SAD: Adorjan Portik, SDs: Dorka Kiss, Kata Kiss
The Toxic Avenger – PD: Alex Cameron, SAD: Ivan Ranghelov, SD: Elizabeth Boller
100 Nights of Hero – PD: Sofia Sacomani, SAD: Naomi Bailey, SD: Tatyana Rutherston

Major Motion Picture – Period
Frankenstein – PD: Tamara Deverell, SAD: Brandt Gordon, SD: Shane Vieau
Hamnet – PD: Fiona Crombie, SAD: Tim Blake, SD: Alice Felton
Hedda – PD: Cara Brower, SAD: Andrew Bennett, SD: Stella Fox

Major Motion Picture – Contemporary
F1: The Movie – PDs: Ben Munro, Mark Tildesley, SAD: Ben Munro, SDs: Andrew McCarthy, Véronique Melery
Jay Kelly – PD: Mark Tildesley, SAD: Ben Collins, SD: Véronique Melery
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – PD: Gary Freeman, SAD: Matt Gray, SD: Raffaella Giovannetti

Major Motion Picture – Fantasy
Bugonia – PD: James Price, SAD: Adam Makin, SD: Prue Howard
Mickey 17 – PD: Fiona Crombie, SAD: Jason Knox-Johnston, SD: Alice Felton
Wicked: For Good – PD: Nathan Crowley, SAD: Ben Collins, SD: Lee Sandales

TV categories include Brian and Maggie, Surviving Black Hawk Down, The Last Musician of Auschwitz, The Girlfriend, The Iris Affair, Towards Zero, Alien: Earth, Andor, Wednesday S2.

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We’ll be following the results of the ADG, SDSA and BFDG awards closely, alongside the BAFTA and Academy Awards, as the season unfolds. Together, they offer a rich and layered picture of how production design and set decoration are being recognised across the industry.

As ever, we’ll be celebrating the designers and art departments whose work continues to shape some of the most compelling film and television worlds of the year. We’d love to hear which films and designers have stood out to you.