Oscar Ballot

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards are set to air this Sunday, March 7th 2010 on ABC Television. The Oscar winners of each category are decided by vote. Only members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are allowed to vote; at this time, there are 5,777 members.

All nominees are arranged by category on the Oscar ballot. The 5,777 ballots were mailed out on February 10th 2010. http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2010/20100210.html/ It is very possible that not all ballots will be returned, lowering the number of votes with which each winner is determined.

This year's official ballot lists nominees of only 19 of the 24 award categories. The remaining 5 categories (Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film) each have their own separate ballot. These ballots are only available to those members that have seen all films in the category at a mandatory screening.http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2010/20100210.html/

The deadline for each member to return their ballot was March 2nd 2010. Late ballots are not counted. PricewaterhouseCooper accounting firm has been responsible for receiving, counting, and managing the official ballots since 1934. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100210/oscar_ballots_100210/20100210?s_name=oscars2010

Non-official Oscar Ballots are commonly found online between the times in which the nominees are announced, and the time the winners are announced. These can be used for fun, but are often used to form or join betting pools. Each member of the pool fills out a ballot with who they think will win each category. The person with the most correct guesses wins the money in the pool.

Oscar betting pools can also be used as a way to donate to a charitable organization. By charging each person an entry fee, the money collected is donated, and the winner gets a smaller portion of cash or a prize.

Printable Oscar Ballots should be filled out before the show begins, and are a welcome addition to any Oscar Night party.