| 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) | Grim Natwick, Walt Disney †, John Hubley, Faith Hubley, Norman McLaren |
| 1976 (5th) | Robert Cannon†, Hugh Harman, Rudolf 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 Conried |
| 1979 (8th) | Clyde Geronimi, Bill Melendez, Mae Questel, Otto Messmer |
| 1980 (9th) | Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas, Cal Howard, Paul Julian, 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, Stephen 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 Driessen, Jack Hannah, Bill Littlejohn, Maurice Noble, Ken O'Connor, Norman Ferguson †, Mel Shaw |
| 1988 (17th) | Ralph Bakshi, Bob Clampett †, Tissa David, Kihachiro Kawamoto, Virgil Ross |
| 1989–90 (18th) | Art Clokey, Hicks Lokey, Alex Lovy, 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 [1] |
| 2003 (31st) | Gene Deitch, John Hench †, Thurl Ravenscroft [2] |
| 2004 (32nd) | Don Bluth, Virginia Davis, Arnold Stang [3] |
| 2005 (33rd) | Corny Cole, Fred Crippen, Tyrus Wong [4] |
| 2006 (34th) | Andreas Deja, Genndy Tartakovsky, Bill Plympton |
| 2007 (35th) | John Canemaker, Glen Keane, John Kricfalusi [5] |
| 2008 (36th) | Mike Judge, John Lasseter, Nick Park [6] |
| 2009 (37th) | Tim Burton, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Bruce Timm |
| 2010 (38th) | Brad Bird, [7] Eric Goldberg, Matt Groening |
| 2011 (39th) | Walt Peregoy, Børge Ring, Ronald Searle † |
| 2012 (40th) | Terry Gilliam, Oscar Grillo, Mark Henn |
| 2013 (41st) | Katsuhiro Otomo, Steven Spielberg, Phil Tippett [8] |
| 2014 (42nd) | Didier Brunner, Don Lusk, Lee Mendelson [9] |
| 2015 (43rd) | Joe Ranft †, Phil Roman, Isao Takahata |
| 2016 (44th) | Dale Baer, Caroline Leaf, Mamoru Oshii |
| 2017 (45th) | James Baxter, Stephen Hillenburg, Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis [10] |
| 2018 (46th) | Ralph Eggleston, Andrea Romano, Frank Braxton † |
| 2019 (47th) | Satoshi Kon †, Henry Selick, John Musker, Ron Clements |
| 2020 (48th) | Willie Ito, Sue C. Nichols †, Bruce W. Smith [11] |
| 2021 (49th) | Ruben A. Aquino, Lillian Schwartz, Toshio Suzuki [12] |
| 2022 (50th) | Pete Docter, Evelyn Lambart †, Craig McCracken [13] |
| 2023 (51st) | Lotte Reiniger †, Joe Hisaishi, Marcy Page [14] |
| 2024 (52nd) | Aaron Blaise, Eunice Macaulay †, Normand Roger [15] |