Why Are the Academy Awards Called ‘Oscars’?

As recognizable as any Hollywood celebrity, the golden Oscar statuette has been around since the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.

The iconic trophy depicts a knight holding a sword and standing on a film reel with five spokes, each representing one of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ five original branches: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers. Today, it has 19 branches.

Although formally known as the Academy Award of Merit, the statuette, which stands 13.5 inches high and weighs 8.5 pounds, was officially nicknamed Oscar in 1939. It’s uncertain exactly where the nickname came from, although credit is often given to Academy librarian Margaret Herrick, who upon first seeing the statuette reportedly claimed it looked like her uncle Oscar.

Designed by MGM art director Cedric Gibbons (whose numerous film credits include The Wizard of Oz and Julius Caesar), the Oscar originally was made of gold-plated bronze. During World War II, when materials were scarce, the awards were produced from painted plaster.

In 1982, the statuette’s core was changed to Britannia metal, a pewterlike alloy. In 2016, the Academy returned to a solid bronze core, plated in 24-karat gold.

The Academy Awards ceremony has undergone a variety of changes over the years. When the first Oscars were handed out, in 1929, the winners were announced three months in advance. Following that, a list of recipients was given to newspapers beforehand, for publication at 11 p.m. on the night of the ceremony. But in 1940, the Los Angeles Times ran the winners’ names earlier than agreed and the practice was scrapped. The sealed-envelope system still in place began the following year.

Another milestone occurred in 1953, when the ceremony was televised for the first time; Bob Hope and Conrad Nagel served as hosts. Over the course of its history, the ceremony has been postponed four times: in 1938 (by a week), due to flooding in California; in 1968 (by two days) following Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination; in 1981 (by 24 hours), after President Ronald Reagan was shot; and in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the nearly 100-year history of the Academy Awards, a handful of films and performers have set enduring records. Walt Disney remains the most decorated person in Oscars history with 22 competitive wins and four honorary awards. Three films—Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)—share the record for most wins by a single title, each taking home 11 statues. For the 98th Academy Awards, Sinners made history by earning 16 nominations, surpassing the previous high of 14 set by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997) and La La Land (2016).

For all the prestige that comes with nabbing an Oscar, one thing winners can’t do is sell the golden guy for a profit. Since 1950, recipients have been required to sign an agreement promising that neither they nor their heirs will sell their statuette without first offering it back to the Academy for $1.