The Goya Awards are considered Spain's equivalent to the Oscars. Created in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, the annual ceremony often takes place either in late January or early February, and takes place in Madrid most years, but Barcelona, Seville, Málaga and Valencia have also hosted the award show. The award is shaped as a bronze bust of Francisco de Goya, which has led to the trophies also getting the Affectionate Nickname of "cabezones" ("big heads").
The Goyas are notorious for their contentious relationship with Spanish politics, and right-wing politicians in particular. During the red carpet for the 2003 ceremony, many actors and film professionals protested against then-Prime Minister José María Aznar's support to the US invasion of Iraq. No Spanish Prime Minister attended the ceremony until the Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero did in 2005. In 2013, then-Minister of Culture José Ignacio Wert, criticized from the Spanish film industry because of some of his policies, declined the invitation claiming to have "other things to do".
List of Goya Award winners for Best Picture:
- 1987: Voyage to Nowhere
- 1988: The Enchanted Forest
- 1989: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
- 1990: Twisted Obsession
- 1991: ¡Ay Carmela!
- 1992: Lovers
- 1993: Belle Époque
- 1994: Everyone Off to Jail
- 1995: Running Out of Time
- 1996: Nobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead
- 1997: Thesis
- 1998: Lucky Star
- 1999: The Girl of Your Dreams
- 2000: All About My Mother
- 2001: El Bola
- 2002: The Others
- 2003: Mondays in the Sun
- 2004: Take My Eyes
- 2005: The Sea Inside
- 2006: The Secret Life of Words
- 2007: Volver
- 2008: Solitary Fragments
- 2009: Camino
- 2010: Cell 211
- 2011: Black Bread
- 2012: No Rest for the Wicked
- 2013: Blancanieves
- 2014: Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed
- 2015: Marshland
- 2016: Truman
- 2017: The Fury of a Patient Man
- 2018: The Bookshop
- 2019: Champions
- 2020: Pain and Glory
- 2021: Schoolgirls
- 2022: The Good Boss
- 2023: The Beasts
- 2024: Society of the Snow
List of Goya Winners for Best Animated Picture
- 1989: Los Cuatro Músicos de Bremen
- 1994: El Regreso del Viento del Norte
- 1997: Megasonicos
- 1998: ¡Qué Vecinos Tan Animales!
- 1999: Goomer
- 2000: La Isla del Cangrejo
- 2001: El bosque animado
- 2002: Dragon Hill
- 2003: El Cid: The Legend
- 2004: Pinocchio 3000
- 2005: Midsummer Dream
- 2006: Hairy Tooth Fairy
- 2007: Nocturna
- 2008: Missing Lynx
- 2009: Planet 51
- 2010: Chico and Rita
- 2011: Wrinkles
- 2012: Tad, the Lost Explorer
- 2013: Underdogs
- 2014: Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible
- 2015: Capture the Flag
- 2016: Bird Boy: The Forgotten Children
- 2017: Tad, The Lost Explorer and The Secret of King Midas
- 2018: Another Day Of Life
- 2019: Buñuel in The Labyrinth of Turtles
- 2020: Turu, The Wacky Hen
- 2021: Valentina
- 2022: Unicorn Wars
- 2023: Robot Dreams
