Academy of Motion Pictures announces new casting award for 2026 Oscars

The new Oscar will be part of the 98th Academy Awards, with 2025 films the first eligible for the honor. 

The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has established a new award for the 2026 Oscars. 

The academy announced on Thursday that it has created the Academy Award for achievement in casting, which will first be awarded at the 98th Oscars in 2026, with films from 2025 eligible. The award will recognize casting directors, whose contributions to film have often been overlooked during award season. 

“Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate,” the academy’s CEO, Bill Kramer, and its president, Janet Yang, said in a press release. “We congratulate our Casting Directors Branch members on this exciting milestone and for their commitment and diligence throughout this process.”

Casting Directors Branch governors Richard Hicks, Kim Taylor-Coleman and Debra Zane also released a statement, expressing their gratitude and excitement at an award being created for their division. There are currently 160 members of the casting branch, which was created in July 2013. 

“On behalf of the members of the Casting Directors Branch, we’d like to thank the Board of Governors, the Awards Committee and Academy leadership for their support,” the governors said in press release. “This award is a deserved acknowledgment of our casting directors’ exceptional talents and a testament to the dedicated efforts of our branch.” 

The academy will announce category rules for eligibility and voting for the inaugural award in April 2025, when the organization releases the complete 98th Academy Awards rules. It is not yet known how the award will be presented, but the academy shared that the presentation will be determined by its board of governors and administrative leadership. 

Over 10,500 film industry artists and leaders are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The academy implemented several new rules in 2024 to increase diversity among its nominations, including requiring films to “meet two of four diversity standards to be eligible for a best-picture nomination,” according to The New York Times.

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