ACCA voting is now closed...

...so stay tuned for the announcement of the winners!

Friday ends 2003's Awards Circuit Community Awards...

...so get those final votes in here and stay tuned to find out who wins, along with getting to see the staff's 2003 Top Ten lists!

Want to see that Preferential Ballot that we've all heard so much about?

Steve Pond has an interesting article here that details how ugly the race has gotten, but I mainly wanted to call everyone's attention to the new ballot system. Pond gets into the voting process in case anyone isn't sure, as well (essentially, you just fill in those bubbles with 1-10, according to your preference...hence the term "preferential ballot"). Thoughts?

The Oscar Circuit goes to the Documentary race today, along with new Historical Circuit reviews!

Indeed, The Awards Circuit has plenty of new stuff for everyone. First up we have a new Oscar Circuit article, this one on the Best Documentary Feature race. It can be found here, so check it out and brace yourself for more!
We also have some new Historical Circuit reviews for you to read. They're here, so take a gander and keep recommending more titles for us to tackle in the future.
Finally, ACCA 2009 voting closes this week, so this is your last chance to get those votes in. Be sure to go here and vote in order to make your voice heard!
-Thoughts on the Oscar Circuit article, Historical Circuit reviews, and ACCA?

Curious about the Preferential Balloting System for Best Picture this year?

It's still somewhat of a mystery how this will affect the race, but those less mainstream voters will be more important than ever this year...thoughts?

Are voters having trouble coming up with 10 films to nominate for Best Picture?

Pete Hammond certainly thinks so in his article here. I held off a few days on posting this, but it's got some real traction, so I figure I'll let you guys and gals chime in on the situation. If the article holds water (and I'm not 100% convinced that it does), then besides the movies that EVERYONE knows of, the smaller titles that in other years would have no chance certainly now have a chance, and perhaps a larger one than we realize. Here's a little piece of the article that sort of sums up his point:
-However, as the 5 p.m. Saturday deadline for turning in ballots listing those 10 choices looms for voters, there are a remarkable number of academy members who have yet to make up their minds and actually send them in to the PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants.-
-Do you think this is a situation that will make for some interesting nominations come February 2nd? If so, which?

New Academy Member John August walks us through how the nominations work...

...and it's interesting to read. His complete thoughts are here, but this is a taste of what he (an accomplished screenwriter) has to say on his first year voting for the Oscars:

This is my first year as an Academy member, and my first year voting for awards. As a member of the Writers branch, I’ll be casting ballots for Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.

Since it’s all new to me, I thought I’d walk readers through the process.

A few weeks ago, I got a printed Reminder List — a catalog listing all the films eligible for Best Picture. It’s from this list that I have to pick and rank my top ten films. I’ll hand-write the titles on a form that goes in a green envelope, which must be received by the accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP by 5 p.m. January 23, 2010.

-Thoughts?

Curious how many votes it takes to get an Oscar nomination?

Wonder no more, as this article does a great job explaining, but here's the quick and dirty version:

Acting awards:
Members: 1,205 active
Votes required for nomination: 201

Art direction:
Members: 374 members (but 109 are costume designers, who vote in a separate category; that means that 265 members are eligible to vote for the art direction Oscar)
Votes required for nomination: 45

Cinematography:
Members: 201
Votes required for nomination: 34

Costume design:
Members: 109 (from the art directors branch)
Votes required for nomination: 19

Directing:
Members: 366
Votes required for nomination: 62

Film editing:
Members: 221
Votes required for nomination: 37

Original score:
Members: 234
Votes required for nomination: 40

Sound editing, sound mixing:
Members: 405
Votes required for nomination: 68

Original screenplay, adapted screenplay:
Members: 382
Votes required for nomination: 64

Best picture:
Members: 5,777

Votes required for nomination: 526

Voting has begun for Group One of this year's Academy Idol!

Yes, it's exciting times here at The Awards Circuit, and we hope you vote early and vote often for Academy Idol. You can either go here to watch the video and vote, or if you just want to vote with no frills attached, you can do so on the top right of this here blog (the weekly poll is a bit lower down, but it's still there, so vote on that too). We hope you enjoy!
-What films are you supporting in this group for Academy Idol?