What Is Awards Season?
Every year, from roughly January through April, Hollywood enters its most glamorous stretch of the calendar: awards season. This is the period when the film and television industry celebrates its best work through a cascade of ceremonies, galas, and voting campaigns. For entertainment fans, it's must-watch television. For studios, it can mean millions of dollars in box office and streaming boosts.
The Major Awards Shows
Awards season isn't one event — it's a series of interconnected ceremonies, each with its own voting body and prestige level:
| Award | Voted By | Notable For |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Globes | Hollywood Foreign Press Association members | Traditionally the season's opening bell |
| SAG Awards | Screen Actors Guild members | Strong predictor of Oscar acting winners |
| BAFTAs | British Academy of Film and Television Arts | Key international indicator before the Oscars |
| Academy Awards (Oscars) | Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | The industry's highest honour |
How Films Get Nominated
To be eligible for most major awards, a film typically needs to have had a qualifying theatrical run — usually a minimum number of days in a cinema in a qualifying city such as Los Angeles or New York. Streaming films have increasingly broken into this space, with several Netflix and Apple TV+ titles earning major nominations in recent years.
Studios submit their films for consideration and spend considerable budgets on "For Your Consideration" (FYC) campaigns — advertisements, screenings, and events designed to get voting members to watch and support their titles.
The Voting Process
Each awards body has its own voting system. The Oscars, for example, use a preferential ballot for Best Picture, meaning voters rank films by preference rather than simply choosing one. This system tends to reward broadly well-liked films over divisive ones. Other categories use a straightforward plurality vote.
Why Does Awards Season Matter?
Beyond the red carpets and acceptance speeches, awards season has real commercial impact:
- An Oscar win or nomination can significantly boost a film's box office earnings.
- Streaming platforms use nominations to attract new subscribers.
- Awards recognition can revive the careers of long-established actors and directors.
- International films gain wider distribution after major nominations.
Controversies and Evolving Conversations
In recent years, awards season has sparked important conversations about diversity, representation, and which stories get told and recognised. Initiatives like the Academy's inclusion standards (introduced ahead of the 2024 Oscars) reflect the industry's ongoing effort to make the recognition process more representative of global filmmaking talent.
How to Follow Along
You don't need industry connections to enjoy awards season. Most ceremonies are broadcast live and streaming. Following entertainment journalists and critics on social media during nomination announcements and ceremony nights provides real-time commentary and context that makes the experience richer.