Academy Award

<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The Academy Award also known as the Oscar is the highest professional honor given to those considered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to have achieved greatness in film making. The Academy was first organized in May 1927 as a non-profit corporation in California. Its official purpose is the advancement of the arts and sciences of film making.

1 Membership
2 Nominations
3 Current Award Categories
4 Special Awards
5 Science Fiction and Fantasy
- 5.1 More Than 10 Nominations (All Categories)
6 External Links

Membership

The Academy has representatives in 14 branches: Actors, Art Directors, Cinematographers, Directors, Documentary, Executives, Film Editors, Music, Producers, Public Relations, Short Films and Feature Animation, Sound, Visual Effects and Writers. Membership is obtained by invitation and must be sponsored by at least two current members of the Academy in the branch one wishes to qualify.

Nominations

The rules for eligibility require that a feature length film be at least 40 minutes long, publicly exhibited for at least seven consecutive days in 35mm or 700mm film or 24- or 48- frame progressive scan Digital Cinema format in a commercial theater in Los Angeles County.

Members of the academy nominate films in their respective fields by secret ballot with a maximum of five nominations for each award. Final voting in each category is limited to lifetime academy members.

Current Award Categories

Acting

Best Performance by an actor in a leading role.
Best Performance by an actor in a supporting role.
Best Performance by an actress in a leading role.
Best Performance by an actress in a supporting role.

Art Direction

Best Art Direction (An award is also granted for set direction to the same film)

Documentary

Best Documentary Feature
Best Documentary Short Subject

Animated Feature

Best Animated Feature

Cinematography

Best Cinematography

Costume Design

Best Costume Design

Direction

Best Director

Editing

Best Film Editing

Foreign Language Film

Best Foreign Language Film

Makeup

Best Makeup

Music

Best Original Song
Best Original Score
Best Original Musical (Not granted every year)

Short Films

Best Animated Short Film
Best Live Action Short Film

Sound

Best Sound Mixing
Best Sound Editing

Visual Effects

Best Visual Effects

Writing

Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay

Special Awards

Academy Honorary Award
Academy Special Achievement Award
Academy Award, Scientific or Technical
The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Gordon E. Sawyer Award

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Scifi has notoriously been overlooked by the Academy with only a few exceptions. Some have been nominated and awarded in technical categories but rarely in acting, writing or best overall film. The following have received at least one Academy Award nomination for best picture.

More Than 10 Nominations (All Categories)

Mary Poppins (13 nominations, 5 awards)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (13 nominations, 4 awards)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (11 nominations, 11 awards)

To see actors who have been nominated for or have been awarded an Oscar by the Academy, please click on the "What Links Here" Tool at the bottom of this page.