A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit. Ballots are now in the hands — or laptops, actually — of the nearly 10,000 eligible voters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and they have only this weekend and a few days after until March 5 to turn in their individual verdicts. That comes after a long season where the impact of the Oscar race has stretched out almost a full year if you consider that Sinners, with an all-time record 16 Oscar nominations, opened April 17, 2025, almost 11 months to the day of the 98th annual Academy Awards taking place on March 15, 2026.
