Oscars: Academy Announces Date for 94th Oscars and Key Events
The 94th Oscar show, previously set take place on Sunday, February 27, 2022, has been pushed back to Sunday, March 27, 2022.
The eligibility cutoff for films hoping to qualify for the 94th Oscars, however, has been set for Dec. 31 (the end of the calendar year, up from February 28 for the 93rd (the cutoff was extended to help more films qualify due to the pandemic).
The eligibility period for the 94th Oscars will run from March 1 through December 31, 2021.
The restoration of a year-end eligibility cutoff was expected, but there had been speculation that the Oscars ceremony would be moved forward, not backward, perhaps to the last Sunday in February or the first Sunday in March, in order to avoid Super Bowl LVI, which will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 13, and the winter Olympics, which will take place in Beijing between Friday, Feb. 4, and Sunday, Feb. 20.
The pandemic will, in one sense, still shape the 94th Oscars. The eligibility period was impacted by COVID, just like the eligibility period for the 93rd, with theater closures. The requirements that were put in place for the 93rd–including letting films qualify without a theatrical release, as long as one had been announced before being derailed by the pandemic–will remain in effect for the 94th.
The Academy’s Governors Awards ceremony, at which the organization has presented its special awards — the honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award — since 2009 (excepting 2020, when it was canceled due to the pandemic), will return this season. It will not, however, take place in the fall, as had been the case prior to the pandemic, but will be held on Saturday, January 15, 2022.
Oscar nomination voting will run from January 27 through February 1. Final voting will run from March 17 through March 22.
Key dates for the season leading up to the 94th Oscars
| General entry categories submission deadline | Monday, November 15, 2021 |
| Preliminary voting begins 9 a.m. PT | Friday, December 10, 2021 |
| Preliminary voting ends 5 p.m. PT | Wednesday, December 15, 2021 |
| Oscar Shortlists Announcement | Tuesday, December 21, 2021 |
| Eligibility period ends | Friday, December 31, 2021 |
| Governors Awards | Saturday, January 15, 2022 |
| Nominations voting begins 9 a.m. PT | Thursday, January 27, 2022 |
| Nominations voting ends 5 p.m. PT | Tuesday, February 1, 2022 |
| Oscar Nominations Announcement | Tuesday, February 8, 2022 |
| Oscar Nominees Luncheon | Monday, March 7, 2022 |
| Finals voting begins 9 a.m. PT | Thursday, March 17, 2022 |
| Finals voting ends 5 p.m. PT | Tuesday, March 22, 2022 |
| 94th Oscars | Sunday, March 27, 2022 |
