Honorary Oscars have been presented since the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. Now known as the Governors Awards, these awards honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement in cinema and exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences. It is considered to be the most prestigious awards in the global film industry.
Past recipients of Governors Awards include Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, Bob Hope, Noël Coward, MGM, Sir Laurence Olivier, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Sidney Poitier, Lauren Bacall, Francis Ford Coppola, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Harry Belafonte, Spike Lee, Agnès Varda, Liv Ullmann, Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, and more.
The Academy's Board of Governors holds a special meeting in the spring of each year to select Governors Award recipients. Up to four Governors Awards may be presented in a given Awards year in the following categories:
The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
Presented to a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production.
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Given to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry by promoting human welfare and contributing to rectifying inequities.
The Honorary Award
Given for extraordinary lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the motion picture arts and sciences of any discipline, or outstanding service to the Academy.
Of note: no more than one Hersholt Award and one Thalberg Award may be presented in a given year. Except in extraordinary circumstances, no competitive Oscar winner may receive an Honorary Award. Governors Awards cannot be voted posthumously, and no current Academy governor is eligible to receive a Governors Award.