Szczerbowski, who was born in Poznań, western Poland, and emigrated to Canada in the early 1980s, accepted the award alongside co-director Chris Lavis for The Girl Who Cried Pearls.
The 17-minute stop-motion film follows a boy in love with a girl whose tears turn into pearls.
However, Polish costume designer Małgosia Turzańska missed out on an Oscar for her work on Hamnet as the award went to Kate Hawley for Frankenstein.
The night's biggest winner was Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, which took home six Oscars including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best film editing, best supporting actor for Sean Penn – his third Academy Award – and the first ever for casting.
Michael B. Jordan won best actor for Sinners, which collected four Oscars despite leading all nominees with 16 nominations.
Jessie Buckley won best actress for Hamnet, while Amy Madigan took best supporting actress for Weapons.
Norway's Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier, won best international feature film.
The Czech-Danish documentary Mr Nobody Against Putin, about Russian school propaganda filmed covertly by a teacher who later fled the country, won best documentary feature.
Here is the full list of winners on the Oscars website.
(ał)
Source: IAR, PAP