OFFICIAL NOMINATION PAPER

THE ACADEMY PLAN FOR AWARDS OF MERIT

All members of the Academy are urged as a special duty and privilege to fill in their nominations for the Academy Awards of Merit specified on the two inside pages of this nomination paper, with full recognition of the importance and responsibility of the act.

Academy Awards of Merit should be considered the highest distinction attainable in the motion picture profession and only by the impartial justice and wisdom displayed by the membership in making their nominations will this desired result be possible.

CHARACTER OF TOKEN

The Distinction Award will be in the form of a statuette emblematic of the profession, to be designed by some recognized sculptor; to be reproduced in bronze, and the particular achievement for which it is awarded to be engraved on the base of each one. The statuette will be a valued ornament for desk, table or mantel.

There will also be awards of honorable mention, diploma or some other form of recognition to those others in each class who may be deemed entitled to it.

MANNER OF ARRIVING AT DECISIONS

NOMINATIONS. Each member of the Academy will make nominations on or before August 15 for each of the several awards, stating in each case the individual nominated and the particular picture in which the achievement occurs. For the purpose of refreshing the memory, a list of productions released since August 1, 1927, is sent herewith.

JUDGES. There will be appointed after the balloting five judges for each class group of awards, these judges to be selected by each of the Executive Committees of the five Branches of the Academy from the Branch membership to embrace as far as possible the best qualified members of the Branch.

Each Branch Board of Judges will report their findings to a Central Board of Judges to be appointed by the Board of Directors, one from each Branch, who will make the final awards.

PROCEDURE. The Secretary will submit to each of the several Branch Boards of Judges a record of all the nominations made for its particular class of awards, and each Board of Judges will then select from the nominations the ten receiving the highest number of nominating votes for each award, and proceed to consider the merits of such selected nominees by reviewing the pictures specified, after which they will certify in writing to the Central Board of Judges the three nominees for each award, in their order of excellence, whom they judge to be most entitled to awards for Distinction and honorable mention.

The Boards of Judges may call upon the studios for information and on individuals for testimony as to the just credit to which a nominee may be entitled for a stated achievement.

No Judge shall be named to serve on any Board of Judges who has been selected as a candidate for any award to be judged by such Board.

BESTOWING THE AWARDS

It is proposed to bestow the awards at the Annual Meeting of the Academy, which can be either an open meeting or a dinner. The Annual Meeting takes place late in October, which will have afforded the Boards of Judges sufficient time for making their decisions and awards.

Webmaster’s Note:

For the 1927-28 Awards, the “class groups” and associated sub-categories for which Academy members were asked to nominate achievements were as follows:

• Best Performances of the Year in Acting
  • Actor
  • Actress
• Best Achievements of the Year in Writing
  • Original
  • Adaptation
  • Title Writer
    (NOTE: A separate mimeographed nomination
    form for the Title Writer sub-category was
    hand-inserted into the nomination papers.)
• Best Achievements of the Year in Directing
  • Drama
  • Comedy
• Best Technical Achievements of the Year
  • Cinematography
  • Art Directing
  • Engineering
• Best Productions of the Year
  • Outstanding Picture
  • Quality