RULES

TENTH ANNUAL

ACADEMY AWARDS OF MERIT

ONE

The Awards Year

The achievements for which the Academy Awards of Merit shall be bestowed must have been in connection with motion pictures first released during the calendar year of 1937 or first publicly exhibited (previews excluded) in the Los Angeles District by January 17, 1938.

TWO

The Annual Awards

Awards of Merit shall be conferred for the following achievements:

PRODUCTION:	For the most outstanding motion picture of the year.
ACTING:	For the best performance by an actor. (Also an Award for the best performance by an actor in a supporting role.) For the best performance by an actress. (Also an Award for the best performance by an actress in a supporting role.)
DIRECTING:	For the best achievement in directing.
WRITING:	For the best written screen play. For the best original motion picture story.
ART DIRECTION:	For the best achievement in art direction.
CINEMATOGRAPHY:	For the best achievement in cinematography of a black and white picture, 80% of the release footage of which must have been photographed in America under normal production conditions.
SOUND RECORDING:	For the best achievement by a studio sound department.
SHORT SUBJECTS:	An Award shall be given jointly for the outstanding productions selected in four classifications: Cartoons, 1,000-foot subjects, Subjects between 1,000 and 3,000 feet, Short subjects in color.
FILM EDITING:	For the best achievement in film editing.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR:	For the year’s outstanding achievement by an assistant director or unit manager.
MUSIC:	In two classifications for the outstanding achievements in music in connection with motion pictures: (a) Best scoring of a motion picture production. (b) Best song (as an achievement in music and lyric writing).
DANCE DIRECTION:	For the year’s outstanding achievement in the direction of a dance and musical sequence.

THREE

The Special Awards

Upon recommendation of the Awards Committee, the Academy Board of Governors may bestow Special Awards as follows:

1. SCIENTIFIC OR TECHHICAL ACHIEVEMENT: For a device, method, formula, discovery or invention of special and outstanding value to the art, science, or industry of motion picture production, and actually employed in production within the Awards period. (See Rule 18.)
2. IRVING G. THALBERG MEMORIAL AWARD: “The Award shall be given each year for the most consistent high quality of production achievement by an individual producer, based on pictures he has personally produced during the preceding year. It shall be in the form of a specially designed plaque which will, each year, become the permanent possession of the producer to whom it is awarded. The Award shall be decided by a committee of twelve to be appointed by the Academy President and conferred for the first time at the Academy Awards Banquet in i938, for the producing achievement of 1937. To carry on the ideals represented by Irving G. Thalberg is the privilege of the Academy in sponsoring this Award.”
3. OTHER SPECIAL AWARDS: For outstanding achievements not strictly within the categories listed in Rule Two. These achievements may be in connection with foreign as well as domestic productions, and are not limited to the Awards year.
4. Special Awards shall be in the form of gold statuette trophies or certificates of honorable mention, or in such other form as the Awards Committee may recommend to the Academy Board of Governors.

FOUR

General Rules and Time Limits

1. The general Awards for Production, best performances by an Actor and Actress, Directing, Screen Play, Original Story, Art Direction, Cinematography, and Sound Recording, shall be in the form of gold statuettes emblematic of the motion picture profession. The Awards for best performances by Actor and Actress in Supporting Roles, and the Awards for Film Editing, Assistant Director, Best Song, Scoring, and Dance Direction shall be in the form of gold plaques suitably inscribed. The Award for Short Subject production shall be a permanent statuette trophy conferred jointly for the four classifications of production together with individual plaques.
2. Final voting for Awards shall be by secret ballot. Printed forms and ballots shall be supplied by the Academy, and shall be returned to the Academy unsigned and in sealed envelopes.
3. Ballots shall be opened and counted under the supervision of a firm of Certified Public Accountants designated by the Academy president. This shall be the firm of Price-Waterhouse & Co.
4. The Awards shall be conferred at an Awards Presentation Dinner to be held March 3, 1938.
5. In the event that an achievement voted an Award was done in collaboration, each of the collaborators shall receive an Award trophy. An exception to this rule is that the director of a picture may not receive a writing award as a collaborator.
6. In the nomination vote, except where otherwise specified, the marking and tabulation of all ballots shall be according to the preferential or proportional system used in Academy elections as stated in Article XIII of the Academy By-Laws. No “write-in” votes shall be counted on the final ballots.

FIVE

General Rules for Nominations

1. The Awards Committee shall provide for such meetings, sub-committees and special showings as may be desirable to insure a full and fair consideration of the merits of all eligible achievements.
2. Five nominations shall be made for each Award (unless otherwise specified), but there shall be ten nominations for the Most Outstanding Motion Picture of the Year. In all cases nominations shall be announced and placed on the final ballot in alphabetical order.
3. All nominations shall refer only to the motion picture in which the achievement was made, and not to any individual responsible, except in the case of nominations for Acting and the Assistant Director which shall name both the individual and the one picture in which the achievement occurred.
4. Performances by an actor or an actress in any leading role shall be eligible for nomination only for the general Awards for acting achievements. Performances by an actor or an actress in any supporting role may be nominated for either the general Best Performance Awards or the Awards for supporting players.

SIX

Special Rules for the Production Award

1. Nomination voting shall be by the preferential system, the ten productions standing highest in the tabulation to be placed on the final ballot.
2. All individuals qualified to vote in the nominations for any other Award shall also be given nomination and final ballots to determine the Award for the most outstanding motion picture of the year. In the final voting, in addition to the above, ballots shall also be sent to the members of the Junior Screen Actors Guild.

SEVEN

Special Rules for the Acting Awards

1. Only members of the Senior Screen Actors Guild shall be invited to take part in the nomination vote.
2. Ballots for the final Award shall be sent to members of the Senior Screen Actors Guild, members of the Junior Screen Actors Guild, and to Directors and Writers.

EIGHT

Special Rules for the Directing Award

1. All Directors fulfilling the minimum qualifications for membership in the Screen Directors Senior Guild shall be invited to take part in the nomination vote.
2. Ballots for the final Award shall be sent to all Directors, Writers, all other members of the Academy, members of the Screen Directors Junior Guild and members of the Screen Actors Senior Guild.

NINE

Special Rules for the Writing Awards

1. All Writers fulfilling the qualifications for active membership in the Screen Writers Guild of the Authors League of America, Inc. shall be invited to take part in the nomination vote.
2. The balloting for the final Awards shall be conducted in the same way as for the Directing Award.

TEN

Special Rules for the Art Direction Award

1. One picture shall be nominated for this Award from each studio Art Department.
2. Each nomination shall be made by the Supervising Art Director concerned, in consultation with such Art Director members of his department and such of the executive staff of his studio as he may deem fit.
3. The one production to receive the Art Direction Award shall be chosen from those productions nominated in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 above, by a Committee to be known as the “Art-Direction-Award Committee”, which shall consist of nine representatives of the Art Directors’ Section, to be appointed by the President of the Academy.
4. In order that each member of the “Art-Direction-Award Committee” shall judge the Art Direction of all nominated productions upon the same basis, it is specified that each member of the Committee shall view those of the nominated productions which he may not have already seen, at a series of showings to be arranged during the Awards period. In addition to viewing the nominated productions, the Committee may utilize any other means which it may consider necessary in order to arrive at a correct judgment.

ELEVEN

Special Rules for the Cinematography Award

1. Each Director of Photography shall be asked to submit the names of the two productions which he deems to represent the best cinematography of the year, either naming productions photographed by himself or by another Director of Photography.
2. A “Committee on Cinematographic Award Nominations” shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Photographic Section.
3. From a list of the productions submitted in line with Paragraph 1, plus the names of any other productions which in the judgement of the Committee should be considered, the “Committee on Cinematographic Award Nominations” shall nominate three productions. The Committee shall use the personal knowledge of its members as to technical excellence, etc., and in addition may screen the productions being given final consideration, or utilize any other means which it may consider necessary in order to arrive at a correct judgment.
4. The one production to receive this Award shall be selected by vote of all Directors of Photography in the industry.
5. Consideration for the production to receive this Award shall be restricted to the three productions nominated in accordance with Paragraph 1, 2 and 3 above, it being specified that there shall be no write-in votes permitted in connection with this Award.

TWELVE

Special Rules for the Film Editing Award

1. Each film editor in the industry ·shall be asked to name the five productions which he believes to represent the best editing of the year, listing these productions in the order of preference and including in the list not more than one production for which he himself has been responsible.
2. The five productions receiving the most votes (as determined by the preferential system of counting) shall be considered nominated for further consideration for the Film Editor Award.
3. The one production to receive the Award shall be chosen from the five nominated productions by a Committee to be known as the “Film Editor Award Committee”, consisting of ten film editors, five of whom shall be appointed by the chairman of the Film Editors Section and five by the President of the Society of Motion Picture Film Editors. The membership of this Committee shall be subject to the approval of the general Academy Awards Committee.
4. In selecting the one production to be given the Award, the Committee shall use the personal knowledge of its members as to technical excellence, etc., and in addition shall screen each of the nominated productions and/or utilize any other means which it may consider necessary in order to arrive at a correct judgment.

THIRTEEN

Special Rules for the Sound Recording Award

1. One picture from each studio Sound Department shall be nominated for this Award, each nomination to be made by the Director of the Sound Department concerned.
2. The one production to receive the Sound Recording Award shall be chosen from those productions nominated in accordance with paragraph 1 above, by a Committee to be known as the “Sound Recording Award Committee”, which shall consist of one representative of the Sound Department of each studio nominating a production for consideration for the Award.
3. In order that each member of the Sound Recording Award Committee may judge the recording of all nominated productions upon the same basis, arrangements shall be made for a series of runnings during the Awards period, at which the committee may view the entire group of nominated productions. It is specified that, to be qualified to vote upon the final selection, each member of the Committee shall have seen each of the nominated productions at either these specified runnings or elsewhere. It is further specified that all voting by the Sound Recording Award Committee shall be by the “Preferential” system of voting and shall be governed by the regular rules set up for this system of voting.

FOURTEEN

Special Rules for Achievements in Music

1. Best Scoring. The executive in charge of each of the studio music departments shall be invited to submit the title of the one picture representing the best scoring done in such department during the year. These shall constitute the nominations but appear only on the final ballots of Directors and Production Executives and on a special ballot to be sent to a representative number of orchestra musicians who have been employed by various studios during the year. The list of such musicians shall be agreed upon by the music department executives.
2. Best Song. Each principal collaborator on music and lyrics used for the first time in motion pictures in productions within the Awards year shall be invited to submit the names of three songs. One of these shall be that which he considers his own best work of the year, the other two must be the work of other writers. The titles of the five songs receiving the most mention shall be placed upon the final ballot of all those voting for the general Awards.

FIFTEEN

Special Rules for the Award for Achievement by an Assistant Director

1. The privilege of voting on the Award for the year’s outstanding achievement by an assistant director or unit manager shall be extended only to all first and second assistant directors and unit managers who are qualified for full membership in the Junior Directors Guild.
2. In the nomination ballot, each voter shall name five productions in the order of his preference, the five standing highest in the tabulation of the votes to go on the final ballot.
3. The Award shall go to the First Assistant Director on the production unless the Unit Manager also served as the First Assistant.

SIXTEEN

Special Rules for Dance Direction Recognition

1. Each dance director shall be asked to enter the name of ONE number for the direction of which he was responsible.
2. This nomination may include the staging of a dance and musical sequence, but solo numbers shall be excluded unless the principal is in the ensemble, as the Award is for the direction rather than for solo dancing.
3. A special showing shall be arranged at which members of the Academy from all Branches shall cast ballots on a point system, rating the merit of the nominated achievements as to:
   1. Originality of idea
   2. Execution
   3. Entertainment Value
4. The voting at the showing shall be by secret ballot and shall be final.

SEVENTEEN

Special Rules for Short Subjects Award

1. Nomination entries shall be submitted in four classifications:
   1. Cartoons and other animation photography of inanimate objects, whether in color or black and white.
   2. Short subjects of 1,000-foot length or less, in black and white.
   3. Short subjects between 1,000 and 3,000 feet in length, in black and white.
   4. Short subjects photographed in color, not over 3,000 feet in length.
2. Entries in each classification shall be limited to one subject from a production series, the selection to be made by the producer of the series.
3. Producers entering subjects must arrange to have prints available for screening in Hollywood on a date to be specified.
4. In both nomination and final voting the excellence of the entries shall be judged on the basis of entertainment, originality and production quality, without regard to cost of production or subject matter.
5. A nominating Committee of short subjects producers shall be appointed by the Academy President. This Committee shall review all entries, working as four sub-committees, each of which will review and nominate from one classification only, the members of each sub-committee voting on a different classification of production than they themselves are engaged in.
6. Three subjects shall be nominated in each classification by a majority vote of the sub-committee.
7. The final vote shall be taken at a special exhibition of the nominated subjects before a committee of Academy members now engaged in feature production, which committee shall include at least one representative of each of the Academy Branches. Academy members and guests may be invited to this exhibition.

EIGHTEEN

Rules for the Scientific or Technical Awards

Awards for Scientific or Technical Achievement shall be for a device, method, formula, discovery of invention of special and outstanding value to the art, science or industry of motion picture production and actually employed in production during the Awards year. Decision on this Award shall be made as follows:

1. The Chairman of the Technicians Branch shall appoint a Board of qualified judges, members of the Branch, who shall take notice of all achievements within or of the industry as herein described, and fully acquaint themselves as to the merits of such achievements to thus be able to render a just decision.
2. Any individual or company may submit to the Board of Judges nominations in writing for this Award.
3. The Chairman of the Board of Judges shall appoint sub-committees of representatives of the various professional fields within which nominations are made, to appraise the nominations and to assist the Board in arriving at their decision.
4. The Board of Judges shall meet at such times as they select to consider nominations, or achievements which may be brought to their notice whether nominated or not, and shall recommend to the Awards Committee the person, persons, group or corporation on whom the Award shall be bestowed, and the manner in which such recognition shall be accorded.
5. It shall be within the discretion of the Board of Judges to divide the Award, or to make no Award.