The Academy Awards

First presented 16 May 1929

Film prizes — the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The annual prizes of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, founded in 1927 by MGM's Louis B. Mayer, and the oldest of the major entertainment awards. The first ceremony lasted about fifteen minutes in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on 16 May 1929, where the silent aviation picture Wings took Outstanding Picture. The gold-plated statuette — a knight gripping a crusader's sword atop a five-spoked film reel — was designed by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons and sculpted by George Stanley, and acquired the nickname Oscar by the 1930s.

How to spot them

▸The Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 16 May 1929 — the first ceremony, and the only one whose winners were known in advance
▸A knight on a reel of film with five spokes, for the five original branches of the Academy
▸Sealed envelopes from PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the 2017 mix-up that gave La La Land the wrong result
▸Eleven wins is the record, shared by three films; fourteen nominations is the record, shared by three others

Key facts

A gold-plated knight gripping a crusader's sword, standing on a reel of film with five spokes (1929)

The statuette, designed by Cedric Gibbons and sculpted by George Stanley; the five spokes stand for the Academy's five founding branches

Wings, the silent aviation picture that took the very first Outstanding Picture award (1929)

The only silent film to win the top prize until The Artist in 2012

Three films share the record of eleven wins: a chariot race, a sinking liner and the end of a trilogy (1959)

Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), which went eleven for eleven

Walt Disney's 22 competitive wins from 59 nominations, more than any other individual

Including four in a single night in 1954

Parasite, the first film not in the English language to take the top prize (2020)

Bong Joon-ho also won director, original screenplay and international feature the same night

The 2017 ceremony at which La La Land was read out before the envelope was corrected to Moonlight (2017)

Warren Beatty had been handed the duplicate Best Actress envelope

One Battle After Another, six awards including the top prize, in March 2026 (2026)

Paul Thomas Anderson's film also took director, adapted screenplay, supporting actor, editing and casting

Only three films have swept picture, director, actor, actress and screenplay in one night

It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991) — the 'Big Five'

Key ideas

The Academy is a membership body of film professionals divided into branches; nominations in most craft categories are made by that branch alone, but the winner is voted on by the whole membership, which is why the top prize can diverge sharply from the craft awards.

Quick-fire facts

•The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded in 1927; the first awards were presented on 16 May 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
•Wings was the first winner of Outstanding Picture; the same year Sunrise won a separate, never-repeated award for Unique and Artistic Picture
•The statuette stands 13.5 inches tall and was designed by Cedric Gibbons, MGM's art director
•Katharine Hepburn holds the record for acting wins with four, all for Best Actress
•Meryl Streep has the most acting nominations, 21
•John Ford has won Best Director four times, more than anyone else
•All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land share the record of 14 nominations
•Hattie McDaniel was the first Black winner, for Gone with the Wind in 1940; Halle Berry remains the only Black Best Actress winner, in 2002
•Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win Best Director, for The Hurt Locker in 2010
•Emil Jannings, the first Best Actor winner, and George C. Scott and Marlon Brando, who both refused their awards, are among the ceremony's famous absentees

Drill it — 9 cards

1 / 9new card

Sources

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — The 1st Academy Awards, 1929
ABC News — Oscars 2026: full list of winners, 98th Academy Awards Consulted for the 2026 results; cited without URL