Every spring, the Academy Awards turn film fandom into a fever of predictions. But the mechanism behind those gold envelopes is less glamorous than the red carpet suggests: a two-phase voting system, run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), in which thousands of industry professionals narrow the field and then pick winners under rules that are rewritten almost every year. Here is how the Oscars are actually decided.

Who Votes: The Academy Itself

The Oscars are voted on by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a professional body of roughly ten thousand members working across film disciplines — actors, directors, writers, editors, cinematographers, producers, and more. Members belong to branches reflecting their craft (the Actors Branch, the Directors Branch, and so on), and that branch structure determines who votes in the first phase of the process. Membership is by invitation, generally requiring professional achievement or sponsorship by existing members.

Eligibility: Getting on the Ballot

Before anything can be voted on, a film must qualify. The core requirements are straightforward: the film must be feature length (over 40 minutes), must have a qualifying theatrical release — generally a run of at least seven consecutive days in a commercial theatre — and must be released within the eligibility year, which runs from January 1 to December 31. For Best Picture consideration, films must also submit a representation and inclusion standards entry form, reflecting the Academy’s ongoing diversity requirements for its top prize. Each year the Academy’s Board of Governors approves updated rules and submission deadlines covering general entry, animated features, documentaries, international features, music, and short films.

Phase One: Nominations by Branch

Nomination voting is the domain of specialists. Actors nominate actors, directors nominate directors, editors nominate editors — each branch selects the nominees in its own categories. The one exception is Best Picture, which is open to nomination by the entire membership. Most categories produce five nominees; Best Picture can have up to ten.

For nominations, branches vote on preferential-style ballots with preset thresholds: contenders that reach a required vote threshold secure a nomination, and lower-ranked contenders are progressively eliminated with their votes redistributed until the nominee slots are filled. The result is that the nominations reflect the judgment of the people who practice each craft — cinematographers choose the year’s best cinematography, not the general membership.

Phase Two: Final Voting and the Preferential Ballot

Once nominations are announced, the process opens up: the full Academy membership votes in nearly every category, not just within their branch. In most categories, the nominee with the most votes wins by simple plurality. Best Picture is the exception — it is decided by preferential ballot.

Here is how the preferential ballot works. Members rank the Best Picture nominees from favorite to least favorite. If one film receives more than 50 percent of first-place votes, it wins. That almost never happens, so the count proceeds by elimination: the film with the fewest first-place votes is removed, and the ballots that ranked it first are reallocated to each voter’s second choice. The process repeats — eliminate the lowest, redistribute — until one film crosses the 50 percent threshold. A useful illustration: if a voter’s number-one film is eliminated in the first round, that vote passes to their number-two pick, and so on down their ranking.

The system, reintroduced in 2009 when the Best Picture field expanded from five to ten nominees after the widely discussed omission of The Dark Knight, deliberately rewards broad support over passionate-but-narrow support. A divisive film that many voters rank first and many others rank last will struggle, while a widely liked film that lands high on most ballots can win without a majority of first-place votes. This consensus-seeking design is why observers often say it pays to be everyone’s second-favorite film. All ballots are tabulated by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has handled Oscar vote counting since 1935, and the results remain secret until the envelopes are opened onstage.

Campaigning Rules: A Heavily Policed Race

Oscar campaigns are big business, but the Academy polices them through detailed campaign promotional regulations, updated annually by the Board of Governors. The rules govern how studios, publicists, and individuals may promote eligible films to members — and how members may promote work in return.

Recent regulations illustrate the balancing act. Pre-nomination screenings with Q&A sessions or panel discussions may now feature up to two moderators, and approved mailings and “For Your Consideration” calendar entries must include contact information for accessibility and disability accommodations. At the same time, the Academy has tightened other limits: members may not lobby other members directly to advance a film, social media may not be used to discuss voting preferences or strategies, and private gatherings of members are not recognized as official campaign events — studios and PR firms are forbidden from funding or organizing them. Physical outreach like postcards and screening schedules is restricted, and the Academy maintains a confidential hotline for reporting suspected violations.

The penalties are serious. They can include suspending mailing privileges, revoking event access, disqualifying a film or performance from consideration, rescinding a nomination, stripping voting privileges, suspending membership, or expelling a member from the Academy outright.

One of the most significant recent changes affects voting itself: ahead of the 98th Academy Awards, the Academy required members to confirm they had actually viewed all the nominees in a category before casting a final vote — a rule aimed at preventing decisions made on reputation or campaigning alone rather than on the work.

FAQs

Do all Academy members vote for every Oscar?
Nominations are mostly branch-specific — actors pick the acting nominees, directors pick Best Director — except Best Picture, which the whole membership nominates. In the final round, all members vote in nearly all categories.

Why does Best Picture use a different voting system?
Because with up to ten nominees, a simple plurality could crown a winner backed by only a small fraction of voters. The preferential ballot, reintroduced in 2009, ensures the winner commands a majority after redistribution — measuring the broadest support, not just the most passionate support.

What makes a film eligible for an Oscar?
It must be a feature (over 40 minutes), have a qualifying theatrical run of at least seven consecutive days, and be released within the January 1 to December 31 eligibility year. Best Picture contenders must additionally file a representation and inclusion standards form.

Can studios just buy an Oscar through advertising?
No. Campaigning is tightly regulated: direct lobbying of members is banned, social media cannot be used to discuss voting preferences, screening activity is capped and monitored, and violations can lead to disqualification, lost nominations, or expulsion from the Academy.

Who counts the votes?
The accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has tabulated Oscar ballots since 1935. Results are kept secret until they are announced live during the ceremony.

Compiled by the Khabar 24h Editorial Desk from publicly available sources.