99th Oscars rules: committee drafts, Board approves, submissions run Aug. 13 to Nov. 12

Each Oscar race runs under a rulebook the Academy revises every year. For the 99th Oscars, the Board of Governors approved new awards rules and campaign promotional regulations, and the Academy announced them on May 1, 2026.

The campaign changes are narrower than the awards changes. The submission calendar runs from August 13 to November 12, 2026. This article traces how the rules are written, what changed for this race, and what the public summaries say about enforcement.

Who Writes the Rules and Who Signs Off

The Board does not draft the rules itself. According to the Academy's announcement, the Awards Committee formulates them using recommendations from the Branch Executive Committees, the International Feature Film Executive Committee and the Scientific and Technical Awards Executive Committee. The Board of Governors then approves the package.

The announcement names these committees as the sources of recommendations.

The announcement also states that all rules, regulations and dates may change. The 98th cycle's Board approval was reported in April 2025, and its announcement carried a similar caveat.

What Changed in the Awards Rules for the 99th Race

Eligibility for a feature film requires a qualifying theatrical release between January 1 and December 31, 2026. Within the awards rules, actors may now be nominated for more than one performance in the same category if both place in the top five votes. Only roles credited in the film's legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent qualify.

Other changes are narrower. In Casting, the maximum number of statuettes rises from two to three. Cinematography's preliminary round will produce a shortlist of 20 films. Screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible in the Writing categories. The Governors Awards must represent at least three disciplines in a given year.

Some rules concern how members vote. Makeup and Hairstyling branch members must attend at least one of the two final branch roundtables to vote in the preliminary round. In Visual Effects, all Academy members must view the three-minute Before and After reels from the Bake-Off before voting in the final round.

The International Feature Film category now also accepts films that win a qualifying award at a listed festival. The six named awards are Berlin's Golden Bear, Busan's Busan Award, Cannes' Palme d'Or, Sundance's World Cinema Grand Jury Prize, Toronto's Platform Award and Venice's Golden Lion. The film is credited to the nominee rather than the country or region, and the director accepts on behalf of the creative team.

Original Song rules were also clarified for songs placed in the end credits. When a song is the first new music cue after the credits begin, its video clip must include the last 15 seconds of the film before the credits.

Campaign Rules Change at the Margins

The 99th campaign regulations were updated and clarified for formatting and language, the announcement says. It lists two substantive changes. Pre-nomination screenings with a Q&A or panel discussion may now have up to two moderators, instead of one.

The second change covers eblasts and FYC calendar entries sent to members through an Academy-approved mailing house. Those messages must include an email address or phone number for accessibility and disability inquiries, or for questions about whether the screening venue has proper accommodations.

The 98th rules, announced in April 2025, carried a different set of campaign items. Oscar-qualifying festivals may now have access to approved mailing houses to share information about festival programming with members. Public communications, including posts, reposts, shares and comments, may not disparage the techniques or subject matter of any motion picture.

Earlier limits appear in a 2023 TheWrap report on a previous clarification. It described the end of physical outreach, including letters, postcards and screening schedules, with all communication moving to an approved mailing house. It said private events are allowed as long as motion picture companies do not fund, organize or endorse them. Social media and direct messages to members could not discuss voting decisions, preferences or strategies. Hosted screenings were capped at four before nominations and none afterward, with Q&A screenings unlimited. Governors faced additional restrictions during the campaign stage.

The 99th announcement, as reviewed here, does not restate those limits, so the current full text needs checking before any of them is treated as in force.

How Violations Are Handled

The public summaries say little about enforcement. The 98th announcement stated that Academy members, motion picture companies and individuals directly associated with an eligible motion picture who are found to be in violation will be subject to penalization. It did not list the penalties.

The 2023 TheWrap report said the rules spell out penalties and set up a process for reporting possible violations. It did not describe either. That clarification followed a dispute over social media campaigning for a Best Actress nominee, and the report said the Academy opted not to discipline that nominee herself over a social-media campaign in which some of her supporters violated existing rules.

The 99th announcement does not mention any enforcement mechanisms or penalties. None of the three sources reviewed for this article lists a current penalty schedule or reporting channel. The complete rules are at oscars.org/rules, which this article did not open.

The three summaries differ in how much campaign detail they give, so they cannot be combined into one complete list.

The Calendar That Shapes Each Campaign

The 99th calendar opens in August. Short and documentary categories have a first deadline of August 13, 2026. General Entry, Animated Feature, Best Picture and the RAISE form have a first deadline of September 17, and International Feature Film is due September 30.

Later deadlines follow. Animated Short, Documentary Short and Live Action Short close on October 8. Music (Original Song) is due October 14, Documentary Feature closes October 15, and Music (Original Score) is due November 4. The final deadline for General Entry, Animated Feature, Best Picture and the RAISE form is November 12, 2026. As of October 11, 2026, the song deadline is three days away.

Bake-off voting for Casting, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound and Visual Effects is set for January 8 to 10, 2027.

The 98th calendar, as set out in the April 2025 release, followed similar steps. Its first general deadline was September 10, 2025, and its final General Entry deadline was November 13, 2025. Preliminary voting ran December 8 to 12, 2025, with shortlists announced December 16. Bake-offs took place January 10 and 11, 2026, nominations voting ran January 12 to 16, and nominations were announced January 22, 2026. Finals voting ran February 26 to March 5, 2026, and the ceremony was set for March 15, 2026.

Comparing the two years, the first general deadline moves from September 10 to September 17, and the final General Entry deadline moves from November 13 to November 12.