PRELIMINARY VOTING PROCESS
Preliminary voting precedes Nomination voting and pertains only to certain award categories, which you will find listed below.
Members of the corresponding branch typically vote on Categories with Preliminary voting rounds. However, each category may have specific voting rules, which are located on the Rules & Eligibility page or linked below.
Preliminary voting consists of a process by which all qualifying films are voted on to create a shortlist of either 10 or 15 films, depending on each category. Preliminary voting is conducted using online ballots. PricewaterhouseCoopers tabulates all votes.
AWARD CATEGORIES WITH PRELIMINARY VOTING:
Animated Short Film
Documentary Feature Film
Documentary Short Film
International Feature Film
Live Action Short Film
Makeup and Hairstyling
Music (Original Score)
Music (Original Song)
Sound
Visual Effects
NOMINATIONS VOTING PROCESS
Regular awards are presented for outstanding individual or collective film achievements in a wide variety of categories. Most categories are nominated by the members of the corresponding branch – actors nominate actors, film editors nominate film editors, etc. However, certain categories such as International Feature Film and Animated Feature Film have special voting rules which can be viewed at our Rules & Eligibility page.
All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees.
Nominations voting is conducted using online ballots. All votes are tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers, and results are then announced live. Please refer to the Key Dates for further information.
FINAL BALLOTING PROCESS
Finals voting is also conducted online. During finals, all Oscar categories are on the ballot for voting members.
After final ballots are tabulated, only two partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers know the results until the famous envelopes are opened onstage during the Oscars telecast.
Please refer to the Key Dates for further information.