Academy Award: Encyclopedia - Academy Award

Academy Award

The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent film awards in the United States and arguably the world. The Awards are granted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a professional honorary organization which as of 2003 had a voting membership of 5,816. Actors (with a membership of 1,311) make up the largest voting bloc. The most recent awards were the 77th Academy Awards.

Academy Award - Oscar Statuette

The official name of the Oscarreretre statuette is the "Academy Award of Merit." Made of gold-plated britannium, it is 13.5 inches (34 cm) tall and depicts a knight holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film. The root of the name "Oscar" is contested. Some believe it comes from Academy librarian Margaret Herrick, who saw it on a table and said, "it looks just like my uncle Oscar!" Others claim that Bette Davis named it after her first husband. However it became, the nickname stuck and is used almost as commonly as Academy Award, even by the Academy itself. In fact, the Academy's domain name is oscars.org and the official website for the Academy Awards is at oscars.com.

Academy Award - Awards night

The awards night itself is an elaborate extravaganza, with the invited guests walking up the red carpet in the creations of the most prominent fashion designers of the day. The ceremony and extravagant afterparties, including the Academy's Governors Ball, are televised around the world.

Academy Award - Nominations

Today, according to Rules 2 and 3 of the official Academy Awards Rules, a film has to open in the previous calendar year (from midnight January 1 to midnight December 31) in Los Angeles County, California, to qualify. [1] Rule 2 states that a film must be "feature-length" (defined as 40 minutes) to qualify for an award (except for Short Subject awards, of course). It must also exist either on a 35mm or 70mm film print OR on a 24fps or 48fps progressive scan digital film print with a native resolution no lower than 1280x1024.

Academy Award - Awards Up To 2005

The "Academy Award of Merit" is given in many categories, including the following:

• Best Picture – 1928 to present
• Best Actor – 1928 to present
• Best Actress – 1928 to present
• Best Supporting Actor – 1936 to present
• Best Supporting Actress – 1936 to present
• Best Animated Feature – 2001 to present
• Best Art Direction – 1928 to present (also called Interior or Set Decoration)
• Best Assistant Director – 1933 to 1937
• Best Cinematography – 1928 to present
• Comedy Direction – 1928 only
• Costume Design – 1948 to present
• Best Dance Direction – 1935 to 1937
• Directing – 1928 to present
• Documentary Feature
• Documentary Short Subject
• Engineering Effects – 1928 only
• Film Editing – 1935 to present
• Best Foreign Language Film – 1947 to present
• Makeup – 1981 to present
• Original Music Score
• Best Song
• Animated Short Film – 1931 to present
• Live Action Short Film
• Best Short Film - Color – 1936 and 1937
• Best Short Film - Live Action - 2 Reels – 1936 to 1956
• Short Film - Novelty – 1932 to 1935
• Sound
• Sound Effects Editing – 1963 to present
• Best Story – 1928 to 1956
• Best Title Writing – 1928 only
• Unique and Artistic Production – 1928 only
• Visual Effects – 1939 to present
• Writing Adapted Screenplay – 1928 to present
• Writing Original Screenplay – 1940 to present
• Academy Award, Scientific or Technical – 1931 to present at three levels

Special Awards, which are voted on by special committees, rather than by the Academy membership as a whole, include:

• Academy Juvenile Award – 1934 to 1960
• Academy Honorary Award – 1928 to present
• Academy Special Achievement Award
• The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award – 1938 to present
• The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
• Gordon E. Sawyer Award

Academy Award - Academy Award Statistics

• Academy Award statistics: Films receiving 10 or more nominations
• Academy Award statistics: Films receiving awards for Best Picture, Directing, Actor, Actress and Writing
• Academy Award statistics: Actors receiving 5 or more nominations
• Academy Award statistics: Actors receiving 2 or more awards
• Academy Award statistics: Directors receiving 3 or more nominations

Academy Award - Internal links

• List of Academy Awards ceremonies
• List of movies that have won eight or more Academy Awards
• List of Academy Award winning movies

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Academy Award", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki