Academy Awards Voting
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Each November, an election campaign commences that rivals, at least in Hollywood, the passions and sometimes the excesses of the quadrennial race for the nation’s presidency.
It’s the race for the Academy Award nomination.
Because of the Academy’s successful efforts to eliminate splashy gimmicks and gifts, the race consists principally of attempts by studios, independent distributors and publicists to make sure that each of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 6,000+ voting members sees their film.
It means special screenings for Academy members, free admission to commercial runs of a film and the mailing of DVDs.
The Academy aggressively monitors Award campaigning and has issued regulations that limit company mailings to those items that “actually assist members in their efforts to assess the artistic and technical merits of a film,” according to Academy Executive Administrator Ric Robertson. “And we seem to have had a tremendous impact in the areas we’d hoped to affect.”
Nomination ballots are mailed by the Academy in late December, and members will have two weeks to return their secret ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the professional services firm formerly known as Price Waterhouse.
Secrecy is strictly maintained by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The results of nomination balloting will be revealed at a 5:30 a.m. press conference during the last week of January at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Final ballots will be mailed early in February and members will have two weeks to return them. After final ballots are tabulated, only two partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers will know the results until the famous envelopes are opened onstage during the Academy Awards presentation.
Because the Academy numbers among its members the most gifted and skilled artists and craftsmen in the motion picture world, its Award stands alone as a symbol of superior achievement.
Regular awards are presented for outstanding individual or collective film achievements in up to 24 categories.
Up to five nominations will be made in most categories, with balloting for these nominations restricted to members of the Academy branch concerned; only actors, for instance, determine the nominees in the acting categories. Nominations for awards in the Foreign Language Film category are made by a large screening group composed of members from all branches. Best Picture nominations and final winners in most categories are determined by vote of the entire membership.
In addition to the regular annual awards determined by vote of the membership, the Academy’s Board of Governors is empowered to confer Scientific and Technical Awards, Honorary Awards, Special Achievement Awards and other special honors. Among these is the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, a bronze bust of the legendary producer, which is given to “a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” It is considered the highest accolade a producer can receive.
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an Oscar® statuette, is given to “an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” The Gordon E. Sawyer Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given to “an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry.” The Thalberg, Hersholt and Sawyer Awards are not necessarily given annually; each is awarded only when, in the opinion of the Board of Governors, a thoroughly deserving recipient emerges.
The Board of Governors confers Scientific and Technical Awards after receiving recommendations from a committee consisting of some of the most eminent scientists and technicians in the industry. These awards recognize outstanding innovations in filmmaking equipment and technique – innovations that have proven themselves over time, not simply in connection with one particular motion picture.
Honorary Awards may be given for outstanding achievements not otherwise recognized within the category structure of the Academy Awards. They may be given for extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, for exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences or for outstanding service to the Academy. They have been awarded, for example, to Sidney Poitier “in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and a human being,” to choreographer Michael Kidd for his lifetime of work, and to writer Ernest Lehman in appreciation of his body of work.
Special Achievement Awards, conferred by the Board of Governors, may be given for achievements that make an exceptional contribution to the motion pictures for which they were created, but for which there is no annual award category. These awards have been given, for example, to Benjamin Burtt Jr. for the creation of the alien creature and robot voices in “Star Wars” (1977) and to John Lasseter for his leadership of the Pixar team that created the first feature-length computer-animated film, “Toy Story” (1995). These awards are rare. Lasseter’s, a decade ago, was the most recently given.
In addition to the regular annual awards conferred by vote of the membership, the Board of Governors is empowered to vote Scientific and Technical Awards, Honorary Awards, Special Achievement Awards and other special honors. Among these is the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, a bronze bust of Thalberg, which is given to “a creative producer who has been responsible for a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” It is considered the highest accolade a producer can receive.
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an Oscar statuette, is given to “an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” The Gordon E. Sawyer Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given to “an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry.” The Thalberg, Hersholt and Sawyer Awards are not necessarily given annually; each is awarded only when, in the opinion of the Board of Governors, there is a thoroughly deserving recipient.
The Scientific and Technical Awards are made by the Board of Governors acting upon recommendations from a committee consisting of some of the world’s most eminent cinema scientists and technicians, to recognize outstanding innovations in filmmaking equipment and tech-nique. These innovations must prove themselves over time, not in connection with one particular motion picture.
Honorary Awards may be given for outstanding achievements not otherwise recognized within the category structure of the Academy Awards. They may be given for exceptional distinction in lifetime achievement exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences or for outstanding service to the Academy. They have been awarded, for example, to Walt Disney for the creation of Mickey Mouse, to Yakima Canutt for achievements as a stunt man and to director Akira Kurosawa for making movies that have inspired audiences around the world.
Special Achievement Awards, conferred by the Board of Governors, may be given for an achievement which makes an exceptional contribution to the motion picture for which it was created, but for which there is no annual award category. They’ve been given, for example, to Benjamin Burtt Jr. for the creation of the alien, creature and robot voices in “Star Wars” (1977) and to John Lasseter for his leadership of the Pixar team that created the first feature-length computer-animated film, “Toy Story” (1995).
from http://www.oscars.org
