Key Dates, New Rules & Policies Revealed for 2026

With the 97th Oscars now seven weeks in the rearview mirror, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is turning its attention to 98th Oscars, which will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2026. On Monday, the organization’s board of governors announced other key dates pertaining to the coming season — for the announcements of shortlists, nominations and more — and also released rules and campaign promotional regulations that will govern the way contenders compete, including a number of new policies that, on the surface, seem fairly benign, but in practice could have a major impact.

In a major departure from 97 years of tradition, the board has implemented what one might call “the Diane Warren rule.” That widely admired songwriter has received 16 best original song Oscar nominations from her peers in the music branch, but has never won, in part because the final ballot that is sent to the full membership has never listed the names of individuals who are nominated (aside from actors) alongside their nominated project. Had more voters realized that Warren was associated with a particular nominated project — say, the nominated tune “Til It Happens to You” from the documentary The Hunting Ground — they probably would have been more inclined to support it. Moving forward, though, all designated nominees in all categories will now be listed on the final ballot.

The Academy is now making it harder for members to vote in categories in which they have not watched all of the nominees (which BAFTA has done for several years), something that, based on anecdotal evidence, has become more of a concern for the Academy in recent years, since the organization massively expanded its membership and brought in a lot of younger members who are busier with their careers. In the past, voters were always asked not to vote if they hadn’t watched all of the nominees, but the process operated entirely on an honor system. Moving forward, though, the Academy’s e-voting system, in the final round of voting, will not allow members to access the ballot for categories in which they have not demonstrated that they have watched all of the nominees. The Academy will track viewing via the members-only Academy Screening Room streaming app; as for films consumed elsewhere — like at screenings, film festivals, etc. — members will have to fill out a form declaring when and where they watched a film. (In the past, members had to do this in order to vote in the preliminary and nomination rounds for best international feature, animated feature, animated short and live action short categories.) This will presumably result in less coattail voting.

At a time of widespread crisis around the world, the Academy is taking steps to ensure that the work of filmmakers with refugee or asylum status are able to be submitted for the best international feature Oscar by the country to which they have fled. Until now, a filmmaker had to be a resident of a country for that country to be able to submit his or her work (the most recent example, last season, being Germany submitting The Seed of the Sacred Fig, a film made by the Iranian-born German resident Mohammad Rasoulof). Henceforth, “The submitting country must confirm that creative control of the film was largely in the hands of citizens, residents or individuals with refugee or asylum status in the submitting country.”

We now have more guidance about the rules for eligibility and voting for the highly-anticipated Oscar for achivement in casting, which will be presented for the first time in 2026: there will be a preliminary round of voting to determine a shortlist of 10 films; then, prior to nominations voting, members of the casting directors branch will be invited to view a “bake-off” presentation of the shortlisted achievements, including a Q&A with the designated nominees.

Speaking of shortlists, another category is also now getting a shortlist: best cinematography. Ahead of nominations voting, members of the cinematographers branch will now determine a shortlist of between 10 and 20 films.

In years past, members hailing from any of the Academy’s branches have been able to “opt-in” to help select the nominees in the international feature, animated feature, documentary short and live action short categories. Henceforth, they will be able to do the same with the animated short category.

To avoid a repeat of an awkward situation at the most recent Oscar nominations announcement, when many best picture nominees were announced with their “producers still to be determined,” the Academy is now requiring films to submit their Producers Guild of America (PGA) mark certification or awards-only determination earlier than in the past. For consideration in the best picture category, films released from Jan. 1, 2025, through June 30, 2025, must have shown proof of submission for the PGA mark or awards-only determination no later than Sept. 10, 2025. Films released from July 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2025, must have shown proof of submission to the PGA no later than Nov. 13, 2025.

Oscar-qualifying film festivals will now be given access to the Academy’s approved mailing houses in order to share information about festival programming with Academy members. These fests “may send a total of five eblasts through their festival run to all members or branch-specific eblasts,” but “may not send email promotions to Academy members regarding official Academy receptions, and any industry panels, awards presentations, tributes or Q&As. Festivals may not promote specific films to Academy members.”

In the aftermath of an awards season in which artificial intelligence (AI) became a hot-button topic, thanks to relevations about its employment on The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez, the Academy is now acknowledging the issue without actually restricting it in any way. The following language has been introduced into the rules for film eligibility, at the recommendation of the Academy’s Science and Technology Council: “With regard to Generative Artificial Intellience and other digital tools used in the making of the film, the tools neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination. The Academy and each branch will judge the achievement, taking into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award.”

Finally, the Academy seems to be deliberating about whether or not it wants to return to its decades-old tradition of hosting Oscar Nominees Luncheons or to instead do what it did earlier this year when — after canceling the Oscar Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton in the aftermath of the LA-area wildfires — it instead hosted an Oscar Nominees Dinner at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. For now, the calendar marks Feb. 10, 2026, as the date for a “Nominees Event.”

Below are the key dates pertaining to the 2025-2026 Oscar season…