| Year |
Recipients |
| 1972 (1st) |
Max Fleischer, Dave Fleischer |
| 1973 (2nd) |
Walter Lantz |
| 1974 (3rd) |
Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Chuck Jones, Art Babbitt, Winsor McCay |
| 1975 (4th) |
Walt Disney, John Hubley, Faith Hubley, Norman McLaren |
| 1976 (5th) |
Robert Cannon, Hugh Harman, Rudolph Ising, Mike Maltese, George Pal, Ward Kimball |
| 1977 (6th) |
Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera, Mel Blanc, Oskar Fischinger, Bill Scott, Milt Kahl |
| 1978 (7th) |
Jay Ward, Ub Iwerks, Dick Huemer, Carl Stalling, Hans Conreid |
| 1979 (8th) |
Clyde Geronimi, Bill Meléndez, Mae Questel, Otto Messmer |
| 1980 (9th) |
Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas, Cal Howard, Paul Julien, Laverne Harding |
| 1981 (10th) |
T. Hee, Bill Peet, Bill Tytla, John Whitney, Ken Harris |
| 1982 (11th) |
Ken Anderson, Bruno Bozzetto, June Foray, Don Graham, Marc Davis |
| 1983 (12th) |
Eric Larson, Fred Moore, Clarence Nash, Wolfgang Reitherman, Leo Salkin, Steven Bosustow, Wilfred Jackson |
| 1984 (13th) |
Daws Butler, David Hand, Jack Kinney, Michael Lah, Robert McKimson, Richard Williams, Hamilton Luske |
| 1985 (14th) |
Robert Abel, Preston Blair, Joe Grant, John Halas, Sterling Holloway, Jim McDonald, Phil Monroe, Ben Washam |
| 1986 (15th) |
Frederic Back, Shamus Culhane, William T. Hurtz, Irven Spence, Emery Hawkins, John Lounsbery |
| 1987 (16th) |
Paul Dressien, Jack Hannah, Bill Littlejohn, Maurice Noble, Ken O'Connor |
| 1988 (17th) |
Ralph Bakshi, Bob Clampett, Tissa David, Kihachiro Kawamoto, Virgil Ross |
| 1989-90 (18th) |
Art Clokey, Hicks Lokey, Don Messick, Osamu Tezuka, Lester Novros |
| 1991 (19th) |
Ray Harryhausen, Herbert Klynn, Bob Kurtz, Yuri Norstein, Joe Siracusa, Ruth Kissane |
| 1992 (20th) |
Les Clark, Stan Freberg, David Hilberman |
| 1993 (21st) |
George Dunning, Roy E. Disney, Jack Zander |
| 1994 (22nd) |
Ed Benedict, Arthur Davis, Jean Vander Pyl |
| 1995 (23rd) |
Jules Engel, Vance Gerry, Dan McLaughlin |
| 1996 (24th) |
Mary Blair, Burny Mattinson, Iwao Takamoto |
| 1997 (25th) |
Willis O'Brien, Myron Waldman, Paul Winchell |
| 1998 (26th) |
Eyvind Earle, Hayao Miyazaki, Ernest Pintoff |
| 1999 (27th) |
Ray Patterson, Marcell Jankovics, Con Pederson |
| 2000 (28th) |
Norman McCabe, Hoyt Curtin, Lucille Bliss |
| 2001 (29th) |
Bill Justice, Pete Alvarado, Bob Givens |
| 2002 (30th) |
Gene Hazelton, Floyd Norman, Sherman Brothers |
| 2003 (31st) |
Gene Deitch, John Hench, Thurl Ravenscroft |
| 2004 (32nd) |
Don Bluth, Virginia Davis, Arnold Stang |
| 2005 (33rd) |
Corny Cole, Fred Crippen, Tyrus Wong |
| 2006 (34th) |
Andreas Deja, Genndy Tartakovsky, Bill Plympton |
| 2007 (35th) |
John Canemaker, Glen Keane, John Kricfalusi |
| 2008 (36th) |
Mike Judge, John Lasseter, Nick Park |
| 2009 (37th) |
Tim Burton, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Bruce Timm |
| 2010 (38th) |
Brad Bird, Eric Goldberg, Matt Groening |
| 2011 (39th) | Walt Peregoy, Borge Ring, Ronald Searle |
| 2012 (40th) | Terry Gilliam, Oscar Grillo, Mark Henn |
| 2013 (41st) | Katsuhiro Otomo, Steven Spielberg, Phil Tippett |
| 2014 (42nd) | Didier Brunner, Don Lusk, Lee Mendelson |
| 2015 (43rd) | Joe Ranft, Phil Roman, Isao Takahata |