The honors Will Shuster's Zozobra received this year alone attest to the popularity of the marionette and the event itself. Zozobra was inducted into the New Mexico Tourism Hall of Fame "Hall of Legends." The event received a Community Service Award from the Old Santa Fe Association and the Santa Fe community voted it Best Community Event/Festival for the second year in a row in the Santa Fe Reporter's annual contest.

The 2008 Best of Fine Arts award at Contemporary Hispanic Market went to Joey Montoya's Que Viva Santa Fe, a car hood painted with wonderful images of Zozobra and scenes from the Santa Fe Fiesta. "I always liked Fiesta, and I wanted to do something that represented Santa Fe. Zozobra wasn't originally part of Fiesta, but it's been here so long it's part of Santa Fe now." Montoya loves how the piece lets him share his culture. "A lot of tourists asked me, 'What's that?' They didn't know what Zozobra was. As I told them about it they were just like blown away."

Zozobra even achieved international fame this year. Its 49 feet, 11 inches earned it the Guinness World Record as the Largest Puppet/Marionette. Past awards include a first place for Santa Fe in the 1950 Rose Bowl Parade for a Zozobra float designed by Will Shuster.