Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars

Current special categories
Academy Honorary Award: since 1929
Academy Scientific and Technical
Award (three different awards): since
1931
Special categories
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Gordon E. Sawyer Award: since 1981
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award:
since 1957
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award:
since 1938
Academy Special Achievement Award:
from 1972 to 1995, and again for 2017
Discontinued special categories
Academy Juvenile Award: 1934 to
1960
Accusations of commercialism
Due to the positive exposure and prestige
of the Academy Awards, many studios
…
Criticism
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spend millions of dollars and hire
publicists specifically to promote their
films during what is typically called the
"Oscar season". This has generated
accusations of the Academy Awards
being influenced more by marketing than
by quality. William Friedkin, an Academy
Award-winning film director and former
producer of the ceremony, expressed this
sentiment at a conference in New York in
2009, describing it as "the greatest
promotion scheme that any industry ever
devised for itself".
[98]
Tim Dirks, editor of AMC's filmsite.org,
has written of the Academy Awards:

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Unfortunately, the critical
worth, artistic vision, cultural
influence and innovative
qualities of many films are not
given the same voting weight.
Especially since the 1980s,
moneymaking "formula-made"
blockbusters with glossy
production values have often
been crowd-pleasing titans
(and Best Picture winners), but
they haven't necessarily been
great films with depth or
critical acclaim by any
measure.
[99]

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A recent technique that has been
claimed to be used during the Oscar
season is the whisper campaign. These
campaigns are intended to spread
negative perceptions of other movies
nominated and are believed to be
perpetrated by those that were involved
in creating the movie. Examples of
whisper campaigns include the
allegations against Zero Dark Thirty
suggesting that it justifies torture and the
claim that Lincoln distorts history.
[100]