Academy Scientific and Technical Award

Since 1931, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given the Scientific and Technical Award, an Academy Award for scientific or technical achievements, which are presented at "a dinner ceremony separate from the annual telecast."^[1]

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."^[2]

These awards recognize significant milestones in the development of technology for motion pictures and are conferred by vote of the Academy Board of Governors. Potential nominations for awards are investigated by a special committee within the Academy, "The Scientific and Technical Awards Committee", which presents a written report and recommendation to the Board of Governors.

Additionally, the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation, given for "outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy", and the Gordon E. Sawyer Award, both also considered Honorary Awards, are usually also chosen by the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee and conferred at this annual presentation dinner ceremony.^[3]^[4]

Three kinds of Scientific and Technical Awards

Innovations in motion pictures technology are recognized with the following awards:

Award of Merit - an Academy statuette (an Oscar);
Scientific and Engineering Award- an Academy plaque;^[5] and
Technical Achievement Award - an Academy certificate.

Award of Merit

So far, 44 achievements have been recognized by the Award of Merit. Among the organizations and milestones that have been recognized are:

Eastman Kodak for safety film, color negative and print film, color reversal intermediate film, and T-grain films;
Vistavision;
Matte composite cinematography;
Moviola;
Nagra sound recorder;
Xenon arc lamp;
Dolby sound;
Ultimatte's first software product, developed by Petro and Paul Vlahos;^[6]
Imax;
Deep Canvas; a program developed at Walt Disney Feature Animation for three-dimensional painted backgrounds
Maya animation software;
Renderman rendering software;
Avid technology;
Digidesign audio post production;
Kuper Motion Controls, developed by founder of Kuper Controls, Bill Tondreau, and others;^[7] and
Panavision and Arri film cameras;
CAPS digital animation technology jointly developed by Walt Disney Feature Animation and Pixar Animation Studios;
Henson Performance Control System animatronic puppetry technology developed by The Jim Henson Company.

Notes

↑ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "About Academy Awards: Honorary Award". Official Academy Award Website. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Oscars.org. Archived from the original (Web) on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 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 Board of Governors.
↑ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "Special Achievement Award" (Web). Official Academy Award Website. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Oscars.org. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 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.
↑ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation". Official Academy Award Website. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Oscars.org. Archived from the original (Web) on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
↑ Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "Gordon E. Sawyer Award". Official Academy Award Website. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), Oscars.org. Archived from the original (Web) on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
↑ "If an achievement has had a definite influence on the advancement of the industry, it may qualify for a Scientific and Engineering Award (a 24k gold plated tablet with the name of the award in raised lettering, and a representation of the Oscar statuette in bas relief to one side of the plaque). Affixed to the base is a plate engraved with a description of the achievement and the names of the contributors." (Official Webpage)
↑ Ultimatte Advantedge Official Website, accessed August 1, 2008; the citation for this particular Award of Merit conferred on the Vlahos brothers in the Awards Database is: "To PETRO VLAHOS and PAUL VLAHOS for the conception and development of the Ultimatte Electronic Blue Screen Compositing Process for motion pictures. [statuette]". Archived March 30, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
↑ Kuper Controls Official Website, accessed August 1, 2008; the citation in the Awards Database for this particular Award of Merit (among several Scientific and Technical Awards conferred on Tondreau and others relating to their work at Kuper Controls and elsewhere, is: "To BILL TONDREAU of Kuper Controls for his significant advancements in the field of motion control technology for motion picture visual effects. Measuring his valuable contributions to the invention and implementation of robotic camera systems in decades rather than years, his efforts have aided motion control in becoming a core technology that has supported the renaissance of visual effects. [statuette]."

External links

"Scientific and Technical Awards" – Index for these Awards on the official Web site of the Academy Awards (oscars.org).
Official Academy Award Database – Searchable.
"Academy Award of Merit", "Scientific and Engineering Award" and "Technical Achievement Award" – Description of these Academy Awards

Academy Awards

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Records Most wins per ceremony Oscar season Governors Awards Pre-show

Merit awards	Best Picture Director Actor Actress Supporting Actor Supporting Actress Adapted Screenplay Original Screenplay Animated Feature Documentary Feature Foreign Language Film Animated Short Film Documentary Short Subject Live Action Short Film Cinematography Costume Design Film Editing Makeup and Hairstyling Original Score Original Song Original Musical Production Design Sound Editing Sound Mixing Visual Effects

Special awards	Academy Honorary Award Academy Scientific and Technical Award Gordon E. Sawyer Award Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation Special Achievement Academy Award Student Academy Award

Retired awards	Assistant Director Dance Direction Director of a Comedy Picture Engineering Effects Short Subject, Two-reel Short Subject, Comedy Short Subject, Novelty Story Title Writing Unique and Artistic Quality of Production Academy Juvenile Award

Ceremonies (Book)	1927/28 1928/29 1929/30 1930/31 1931/32 1932/33 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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