Short answers, pulled from the story.
The year 1962 marked the first presentation of an award named for a man who had died just one year prior. Noburo Ofuji passed away in 1961, leaving behind a legacy as a pioneer of silhouette animation.
The inaugural winner of the newly established award was Osamu Tezuka's work from that same year. Mainichi Film Awards organizers created this new honor to recognize his specific contributions to the field.
Organizers addressed this concern by establishing the Animation Grand Award in 1989 after big budget studio productions began to dominate the award during the 1980s. Hayao Miyazaki received the first grand award for his film released that year.
Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov won for his paint-on-glass animation film titled The Old Man and the Sea. He took home the award for The Old Man and the Sea in 1999.
Stop motion techniques appear frequently among the winning entries over the decades with two of the most frequent winners specializing mainly in stop motion methods. Other notable works include Kihachiro Kawamoto's puppet animations like Dojoji Temple from 1976.