A specialist in silhouette animation, Ōfuji was one of the earliest Japanese animators to gain international recognition, winning accolades at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival and the 1956 Venice Film Festival.
This award was first presented in 1962 for Tale of a Street Corner (ある街角の物語, Aru Machi Kado no Monogatari) by Osamu Tezuka.
To address this concern, the Animation Grand Award was established to reward large scale cinematic animation, enabling the Ōfuji award to focus on shorter pieces again.
Th Animation Grand Award was first presented in 1989 for Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便, Majo no Takkyūbin) by Hayao Miyazaki.
The award encompasses a wider variety of animation, including stop motion.