Kyoto Animation has received a 2020 Diversity Award from Women in Animation due to their work featuring women and hiring of women staff.

As reported by Variety, Kyoto Animation has received a 2020 Diversity Award from the Women in Animation organization alongside other winners. Women in Animation began the Diversity Awards four years ago and Kyoto Animation was chosen by the organization’s board of directors to receive the award.

Women in Animation is an international non-profit organization founded 25 years. The vice president of the organization Jinko Gotoh who currently works as Netflix had this to say about the award.

“It is our honor to award this important award to Kyoto Animation… As a Japanese producer myself, I’m particularly proud of the way Kyoto Animation shares WIA’s inclusive principle of hiring female artists, as well as their commitment to training artists. They have also displayed tremendous courage in the face of terrible tragedy.”

Kyoto Animation’s works frequently fall in the slice of life genre and star “cute girls doing cute things”. Their noteworthy series include The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, K-On!, Sound! Euphonium, and Violet Evergarden.

Kyoto Animation also features women in roles as animators and directors. Most notably Naoko Yamada recently directed their animated films A Silent Voice: The Movie and the Sound! Euphonium spinoff film Liz and the Blue Bird.

Kyoto Animation has received overwhelming support ever since one of their studios was the victim of an arson attack which left 35 dead and more injured last year. Over 5.7 million yen was crowdfunded to support those affected by the attack, and many theaters in Japan screened Kyoto Animation’s films in support after the attack.

Kyoto Animation’s upcoming projects include Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S, the second season of the series, and two as of yet untitled films all slated to premiere next year.

Image: Sound! Euphonium Official Site