Explained: How are Oscar nominees and winners chosen?

What exactly is the Academy?

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is made up of more than 9,000 motion picture professionals. Established in 1927, it currently has a stated aim of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. The idea of the Academy was put forward by Louis B. Mayer, the then head and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to benefit the film industry and improve its image. At Los Angeles’s Ambassador Hotel, 36 invitees from various creative branches of Hollywood were invited, and the Academy was born. One of the biggest stars of Old Hollywood and the Academy’s founding members, Douglas Fairbanks, was elected the first president.

Academy membership

Theoretically, any artiste involved in the business of production of theatrically-released films can be a member of the Academy. They can choose from one of the 17 branches of the Academy — directors, actors, editors, writers, cinematographers, costume designers, documentary, makeup artists/hairstylists, music, producers, production design, short films/feature animation, sound, and visual effects. There is one more category too, called Members-at-Large, to accommodate those who do not fit into the aforementioned branches.

Each category has its own unique requirements. Potential members cannot apply per se, they just need two individuals in the same branch who can sponsor them. However, nominees are considered for membership automatically and do not need any sponsorship.

Oscar nomination process

Oscar nominations, conducted using both paper and online ballots, are selected by members of a particular branch voting for artistes from their own category. For instance, only directors can nominate directors, actors can nominate actors, and so on.

However, there is an exception: Best Picture. When it comes to this category, every Academy member gets to choose nominees. Members submit a list of 5 to 10 entries for this category’s nominations only. For the rest, they submit a maximum of five entries.

To submit potential nominees, a preferential voting system has been put into place. Members are required to rank their entries in order of preference. The final nomination list is revealed based on how many first-preference votes a film receives. If an entry wins more than 50 per cent, it earns a nomination. But that rarely happens. Then, the second-preference votes are counted, then the third-preference, and so on.

The whole process is conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the big 4 accounting firms.

How are the winners selected from among the nominees?

This is much simpler. Once the nominations are in, all the categories become open for the Academy members and they can vote across categories. Until the envelopes are opened during the ceremony, only two PricewaterhouseCoopers partners know about the winners.

Criticism

Despite being highly-regarded, the Academy and the Oscars are not without their critics. For decades, there have been accusations of Oscars being biased against people of colour (summed up nicely in the 2015 hashtag #OscarsSoWhite). Following the #MeToo movement, there has been greater scrutiny into the profusion of male nominees and winners in the Best Director, despite plenty of good stuff made by women and people of other genders.

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