The Oscars are decided by the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: members of each professional branch nominate films in their own field, and then all voting members choose the winners. Best Picture uses a ranked, preferential ballot, while most other categories are won by the most votes. This Almawadahit.com explainer walks through each stage, from eligibility to the sealed envelopes.
Key Takeaways
- The Academy has around 10,000 voting members, organized into branches by profession.
- Branches nominate in their own categories; all members nominate for Best Picture.
- All voting members can vote for winners in the final round.
- Best Picture winners are chosen with a preferential, ranked-choice count.
Who Votes for the Oscars?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded in 1927 and held its first awards ceremony in 1929. Its voters are film professionals, not the public or critics. Membership is by invitation, and members belong to branches such as actors, directors, writers, cinematographers, editors and producers.
The Academy has worked to broaden its membership in recent years, inviting more international members and more women and people from under-represented groups. Today it has roughly 10,000 voting members around the world.
Step 1: Eligibility
To compete, a feature film generally needs a qualifying theatrical release within the eligibility year, historically including a run of at least seven consecutive days in a commercial cinema in Los Angeles County. The Academy publishes detailed rules each year, and some categories, such as International Feature Film, have their own entry processes.
Step 2: Nominations by Branch
Nominations are mostly a peer process. Actors nominate actors, directors nominate directors, and cinematographers nominate cinematography. All voting members can nominate for Best Picture.
| Stage | Who Votes | How |
|---|---|---|
| Nominations (most categories) | Members of the relevant branch | Ranked ballot within their field |
| Best Picture nominations | All voting members | Ranked ballot |
| Final voting (most categories) | All voting members | The most votes wins |
| Best Picture final vote | All voting members | Preferential, ranked-choice count |
Some specialist categories, such as Animated Feature, Documentary Feature and International Feature Film, involve committees or opt-in voting groups at the nomination stage.
Step 3: The Final Vote
Once nominations are announced, all voting members may vote in every category. The Academy has said that members should watch the nominated films in a category before voting in it, and in 2025 it announced that members must watch all nominees in a category to vote in that category’s final round.
How the Best Picture Count Works
Since the Best Picture field expanded beyond five nominees in 2009, the winner has been chosen with a preferential ballot. The process works like this:
- Voters rank all the Best Picture nominees in order of preference.
- If one film has more than half of the first-place votes, it wins.
- If not, the film with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated.
- Its ballots move to each voter’s next choice that is still in the race.
- The process repeats until one film has a majority.
This means a film that many voters rank highly can beat one that is loved by some and disliked by others. In most other categories, the nominee with the most votes simply wins.
Step 4: Counting and Keeping Results Secret
For decades, ballots have been tabulated by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Only a small number of people know the results before the ceremony, and the winners are sealed in envelopes carried to the show.
The system is not immune to human error. At the 2017 ceremony, the wrong envelope was handed to the presenters, and La La Land was announced as Best Picture before the mistake was corrected and Moonlight was named the winner. Here at Almawadahit.com we think it is one of the most memorable moments in awards history, and it led to tighter envelope procedures.
For a detailed history of the awards and their rules, see Wikipedia’s Academy Awards article, which links to the Academy’s official rule documents.
Why Oscar Campaigns Exist
Because the voters are industry members, studios run “awards campaigns” with screenings, interviews and advertising aimed at them. The Academy sets rules on what these campaigns may do, for example limiting certain types of events and mailings to members.
Want to know how a film’s age rating is decided before it reaches cinemas? Read our explainer on movie ratings or explore more in the Entertainment section. Cinematography is one of the most admired Oscar categories, and our guide to photo composition rules explains many of the same visual ideas; the Photography category has more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who Votes for the Academy Awards?
Voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences choose the Oscars. They are film professionals organized into branches, such as actors, directors, writers and editors. Membership is by invitation. The public and film critics do not vote, although critics’ awards and guild prizes are often watched as signs of likely winners.
How Are Oscar Nominees Chosen?
In most categories, members of the matching branch choose the nominees, so actors nominate performances and editors nominate editing. All voting members can nominate films for Best Picture. Some specialist categories use committees or opt-in voting groups. The nominees are then announced, usually in January, several weeks before the ceremony.
What Is a Preferential Ballot?
A preferential ballot asks voters to rank nominees in order rather than choose just one. For Best Picture, if no film wins a majority of first choices, the last-placed film is eliminated and its ballots move to the voters’ next choices. This continues until one film has more than half of the votes.
Who Counts the Oscar Votes?
For many decades, the Oscar ballots have been counted by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, known as PwC. A very small team knows the results before the ceremony, and the winners’ names are sealed in envelopes. Strict procedures were tightened after the envelope mix-up during the 2017 Best Picture announcement.
Related reading: Hollywood Walk of Fame: How a Star Gets Its Star
Final Thoughts
Oscar voting combines peer nominations, an all-member final vote and a ranked count for the biggest prize. Knowing the process makes awards season more interesting to follow. For more clear explainers on film and entertainment, explore Almawadahit .com services.
