| Academy Honorary Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy. |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) |
| First awarded | 1929 |
| Website | oscars.org |
The Academy Honorary Award – instituted in 1950 for the 23rd Academy Awards (previously called the Special Award, which was first presented at the 1st Academy Awards in 1929) – is given annually by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Since 2009, it has been presented at the separate annual Governors Awards rather than at the regular Academy Awards ceremony. The Honorary Award celebrates motion picture achievements that are not covered by existing Academy Awards, although prior winners of competitive Academy Awards are not excluded from receiving the award.[1][2]
Unless otherwise specified, Honorary Award recipients receive the same gold Oscar statuettes received by winners of the competitive Academy Awards.[3] Unlike the Special Achievement Award instituted in 1972, those on whom the Academy confers its Honorary Award do not have to meet "the Academy's eligibility year and deadline requirements".[4]
Like the Special Achievement Award, the Special Award and Honorary Award have been used to reward significant achievements of the year that did not fit in existing categories, subsequently leading the Academy to establish several new categories, and to honor exceptional career achievements, contributions to the motion picture industry, and service to the Academy.[5][6][7]
The Academy's Honorary Award is given to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy. It is given at the discretion of the Board of Governors and is not necessarily given every year, although the last year it was not given before 2008 was 1987.
The Honorary Award can also take the form of a life membership in the Academy, a scroll, a medal, a certificate or any other design chosen by the Bord of Governors. The John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation, given for 'outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy,' is considered an Honorary Award. It is usually given at the annual presentation of Scientific and Technical Awards, a dinner ceremony separate from the annual telecast.
The Special Achievement Award, an Oscar statuette, is given for an achievement which makes an exceptional contribution to the motion picture for which it was created, but for which there is no annual award category. ... Unlike an Honorary Award, a Special Achievement Award is conferred only for achievements in films which meet the Academy's eligibility year and deadline requirements.... In the Makeup and Sound Effects Editing categories, the Award can be given if those committees fail to come up with three nominations. In that case the committee may recommend to the Board of Governors that a special Achievement Award be voted instead. That was the case in the Visual Effects category, too, before Visual Effects became an annual award.... Thirteen of the 17 Special Achievement Awards given since the category was instituted in 1972 were given for visual effects or sound effects achievements.
"The Honorary Award is not called a lifetime achievement award by the Academy, but it is often given for a life's work in filmmaking – to Polish director Andrzej Wajda in 1999, for example, and to Elia Kazan the previous year [1998].... The Honorary Award also may be given for outstanding service to the Academy. The last time this happened, however, was in 1979, when an Oscar statuette was presented to Academy Governor Hal Elias, who had served more than a quarter century on the Board of Governors.