How To Vote For The Oscars

The Academy members vote only on their branch’s categories at the nomination stage, along with their bids for best picture.

For branches without a category of their own, those Academy members vote only on best picture.

Some branches have an additional early round of voting that whittles contenders down to short lists; these include both music categories, sound, visual effects, and makeup and hairstyling.

International feature, documentary feature, and the shorts categories also reach their final nominees through this type of bake-off process.

To become an Academy member, candidates must be sponsored by two existing members of the candidate’s prospective Academy branch.

First-time nominees are given automatic membership consideration without sponsorship.

The Academy Awards are voted on by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a massive group of industry professionals totaling more than 10,000 members, with almost 9,500 eligible to vote.

This is a nearly 65% increase from the reported voting membership total a decade ago, thanks in part to the Academy’s initiatives to invite more women, people of color, and filmmakers from around the world.

In addition to Oscar voters with familiar categories such as cinematographers or directors, there are also branches for casting directors, executives, producers, and marketing and public relations, making up 17 branches in total (plus members-at-large who don’t fit into an existing branch).

The acting categories are voted on by the branch that is by far the largest, with more than 1,300 members.