# How are Academy Awards nominations done?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 5, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749 "2004-01-05T03:40:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/1 "2004-01-05T03:40:46Z")
Any members of the Academy here? I know that actors nominate actors, editors nominate editors, ect. But what exactly are these people provided with from which to choose their nominations? For instance, do actors choose from a list of EVERY actor that appeared in a movie during the year? Or does the Academy provide a realistic list of possibilities, that doesn’t include, say, Steven Segal in whatever movie he was in this year? In short, is there a list called Possible Nominees?
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/2 "2004-01-05T04:23:26Z")
Here are the [rules](http://www.oscars.org/74academyawards/rules/index.html) as they existed for the 74th Academy Awards (which was two awards cycles ago). I didn’t read through the entire thing but it appears that any person who appeared in a movie which was exhibited in a Los Angeles County theater for seven consecutive days (and for which admission was charged) is eligible to be nominated. My assumption is that AMPAS receives a list of all films which meet eligibility standards and generates nominee lists on the basis of the official credits list, including all performers who otherwise meet eligibility requirements. Of course no one eligible to nominate performers would actually sit down and read such a list, which is why studios pop for those “For Your Consideration” ads that appear in the trades. I don’t see anything in the rules which allows for the elimination of anyone otherwise eligible on the basis of AMPAS believing they have no chance to win.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/3 "2004-01-05T09:25:54Z")
When any feature film plays commercially in Los Angeles County for a minimum seven-day run, the Academy sends out a Official Screen Credits form to the distributor. If the distributor fills it out and returns it by December of the eligibility year, the film is eligible to be considered for Academy Award nominations.
All eligible films are listed in the Academy’s annual _Reminder List of Eligible Releases_. (The exceptions to this reminder list are the categories of Animated Feature Film Award, the Documentary Awards, the Foreign Language Film Award, and the Short Films Awards, all of which have special nominating committees).
The reminder list contains only the names of features, without the name of any production individuals, with the exception of the names of actors and actresses. The reminder list includes the top 50 credited actors and actresses in a movie.
You can view the 2002 version of the reminder list online [here](http://www.oscars.org/75academyawards/reminder/reminder_html.html).
When members of each branch of the Academy vote, they list only the titles of the movies on their nomination ballots, not the individuals responsible. The exceptions are the acting branches, who are asked to write on their ballots the names of individual actors or actresses for nomination in the four acting categories.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/4 "2004-01-05T10:25:12Z")
I should add that animated features, documentary features, and foreign language features, besides being eligible for nomination (by special committees) in those individual categories, are also eligible to be nominated in the Best Picture category and other categories (e.g., acting, directing, writing, composing), which is why they are included in the annual _Reminder List of Eligibile Releases_.
And yes, Andy Serkis fans (LOTR’s Gollum), voice-over work **is** eligible in the acting categories.
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### Author:  [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/5 "2004-01-05T10:34:15Z")
Poorly?
_:d&r:_
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/6 "2004-01-05T10:53:45Z")
What?
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### Author:  [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/7 "2004-01-05T11:48:29Z")
A (poor) joke.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/8 "2004-01-05T12:11:21Z")
I don’t get the joke, what does it refer to?
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### Author:  [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)
#### Post date: [January 5, 2004, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/9 "2004-01-05T12:46:41Z")
Q. How are Academy Award nominations done?
A. Poorly.
That’s it. There isn’t much to get, actually, just a smartass cynical remark.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/10 "2004-01-07T11:49:16Z")
So could Ed Harris and Joaquin Phoenix be nominated for acting awards for _Buffalo Soldiers_ which was not a US release until 2003, although exhibited in Canada and Europe in 2001 and 2002.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/11 "2004-01-07T17:02:31Z")
Yes, what counts is when a feature opened in Los Angeles County. _Buffalo Soldiers_ is on the Academy’s _[Reminder List](http://www.oscars.org/76academyawards/reminder/reminder_html.html)_ of 2003 releases, so it must have opened in Los Angeles in 2003.
_Limelight_, written and directed by and starring Charles Chaplin, opened in the UK and Europe in 1952, but Chaplin withheld it from U.S. release and it did not play in Los Angeles until 1972. The following year, it won the Academy Award for Best Original Score!
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### Author:  [@heater2000ca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heater2000ca)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/12 "2004-01-07T17:16:23Z")
This is very interesting, thanks for spelling it out for us, **Walloon**. Are you involved in the Academy in some way? Or would you have to kill us if you tell us? 🙂
My question is, how does the voting work? I know the ballots went out last week sometime, but the list of nominees won’t be official till, what, the 27th of January? What would prevent someone from opening the ballot package, and holding their own press conference to say who the nominees are? (Well, other than the fact that they’ll never be invited to vote again!)
Why the delay? If they know who the nominees are already (assuming that they’re printed on the already mailed out ballots), why not announce them now? Or are the ballots blank, and the voters write in their votes after the nominees are announced.
Or, maybe I’m really confused, and this is the way it works: the ballots that got mailed out last week are the reminder lists, people write their nominees on the ballot, and that’s what makes up the nominees that get announced later on. If so, who votes on the winners (sorry, the award recipients)? The same people who did the nominations?
I’m very curious how this works, does anyone have any insight?
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/13 "2004-01-07T17:21:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Or, maybe I’m really confused, and this is the way it works: the ballots that got mailed out last week are the reminder lists, people write their nominees on the ballot, and that’s what makes up the nominees that get announced later on.
Yes, there are two sets of ballots–the nominee ballots and the final ballots. The former went out last week.
> [@](#):
>
> If so, who votes on the winners (sorry, the award recipients)? The same people who did the nominations?
Although members of the respective branches nominate within their field of specialty, all Academy members vote on the final ballot.
The only exception are in the Foreign Language, Documentary, and Short Subject (Live & Animated) categories, where you must attend specific Academy screenings to prove that you have seen all the nominees in these categories. Only with the verification can you vote in these categories (though no such qualification exists for all other “regular” feature film categories).
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/14 "2004-01-07T17:36:30Z")
January 2, 2004: Nominations ballots mailed.
January 17, 2004: Nominations polls close 5 p.m. PST.
January 27, 2004: Nominations announced 5:30 a.m. PST.
February 4, 2004: Final ballots mailed.
February 14, 2004: Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation.\*
February 24, 2004: Final polls close 5 p.m. PST.
February 29, 2004: 76th Annual Academy Awards Presentation
- Scientific and Technical Awards are determined by committees, not by general balloting.
**heater2000ca** , the closest I’ve come to being involved with the Academy was visiting the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library once when I was in Los Angeles. Otherwise, I’m just a movie fan.
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### Author:  [@heater2000ca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heater2000ca)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/15 "2004-01-07T17:41:36Z")
Awesome, thanks you two, you both definitely answered my questions.
Now, we just have to wait for the show to air, I guess.
\
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/16 "2004-01-07T17:51:39Z")
The [nominations process](http://www.oscars.org/scitech/2003/index.html) for the Scientific and Technical Awards.
(Note: Film editing, sound, sound editing, and visual effects are **artistic** awards, not technical awards, although the press often mistakenly calls them technical awards.)
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/17 "2004-01-07T18:00:15Z")
For the curious: the “sound” award is for sound mixing; the “sound editing” award is for the creation of sound effects. You know, those things that pommel your ears every time you see a blockbuster these days.
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### Author:  [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/18 "2004-01-07T23:06:34Z")
Wait, sound effects are related to saddles how?
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/19 "2004-01-07T23:24:43Z")
Well, the sound effects really ride you the whole time you’re watching the movie. They also pummel you.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-academy-awards-nominations-done/222749/20 "2004-01-08T00:31:09Z")
Thanks **Walloon**. It was driving me crazy. I could find dozens of links mentioning that there were 254 movies on the reminder list but couldn’t find the list itself. Cool tidbit about _Limelight_.
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