Electronic Voting To Be Used for The Academy Awards

The annual mailing of the official Oscar ballots, one of the rituals in the annual Academy Awards cycle will soon be a thing of the past. Lately, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which presents the Oscars, sent a letter advising its 6,000 voting members that an electronic system for Oscar voting will be implemented at the earliest and will positively be in effect by next year.

The letter, which was signed by Kimberly Roush, the academy’s director of membership asked its members for a personal email address which is different from anything that goes to an assistant or intermediary. Ms Roush stated that at some point, once the system is up and running, mailed ballots will be eliminated.

The much expected shift to electronic voting could have a huge impact for the awards season. By eliminating the lag time that arrives with paper ballots, which were sent through the mail, the academy’s governors could change the awards night from late February to an earlier weekend.

Nicole Kidman Allows Fans to Touch Her Oscar

Nicole Kidman has said jokingly that people are welcome to visit her parents' house and touch her Oscar Award. She had won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours in 2002 and had narrated the experience as magical. 

The Hollywood star was raised in Sydney, Australia during most of her childhood, and it carries an exceptional place in her heart. Hence she decided the iconic golden statue should remain at her parents' home in the city.

She told the British edition of InStyle, that it’s on the mantle of her parents' house in Sydney. People in the neighbourhood could come and touch that gold Oscar.

Remembering her childhood, the Australian actress also explained that as a little girl, Hollywood seemed like a fairy-tale place to her. Nicole recalled watching the Academy Awards on TV and compared the American movie industry to a magical, yet surreal, place.

She mentioned that as a little girl in Australia, she had watched the American film industry from afar. She added that she remembered being six or seven and watching the Oscars in her pyjamas, drinking hot chocolate, in this tiny little suburb of Sydney and that it had seemed like a faraway land, like Oz.

Her words were…There's a bit of magic involved in winning an Academy Award .