Oscars, Red Carpet and beyond...

“And the Oscar goes to…” every time these words are spoken, moment comes to hold and heart of nominees pumps so fast as if it is about to explode.
Academy awards are popularly known as Oscars and the prestigious award is a reward for Excellence in Cinematic Achievement. Oscars are presented every year by Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.
Award ceremony is the most prominent film award ceremony across the globe among which one of the famous feature is Red Carpet.

First ceremony was held on Thursday, May 16, 1929, at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honor outstanding film achievements of 1927 and 1928. It was a private dinner, with an audience of less than 250 people. Since the first year the awards have been publicly broadcast, at first by radio then by TV after 1953.
Voters
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), a professional honorary organization, maintains a voting membership of around 6000 valid members. Actors constitute the largest voting bloc, numbering 1,311 members (22 percent) of the Academy's composition. Votes have been certified by the auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for the past 73 annual awards ceremonies.
Ceremony
This is an elaborate extravaganza, with the invited guests walking up the red carpet in the creations of the most prominent fashion designers of the day. Black tie dress is the most common outfit for men.
The 81st Academy Awards honoring the best in film for 2008 was held on Sunday, February 22, 2009 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood & Highland Center with actor Hugh Jackman hosting the ceremony for the first time. Since 2002, the awards have been broadcast from the Kodak Theatre.
Oscar statuette
The official name of the Oscar statuette is the Academy Award of Merit.

It’s made of gold-plated britannium on a black metal base

It is 13.5 in (34 cm) tall, weighs 8.5 lb (3.85 kg)

It depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes.

The five spokes each represent the original branches of the Academy:

Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians

It’s cost before it’s delivered to the recipient is around $628 and post award it becomes priceless (Since 1950, the statuettes have been legally encumbered by the requirement that neither winners nor their heirs may sell the statuettes without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for US$1. If a winner refuses to agree to this stipulation, then the Academy keeps the statuette).
Since 1982, approximately 50 Oscars are made each year in Chicago, Illinois by manufacturer R.S. Owens. Value of the statuette can be understood with that, if Owns fail to meet strict quality control standards, the statuettes are cut in half and melted down.
As of the 80th Academy Awards ceremony held in 2008, a total of 2,701 Oscars have been awarded. A total of 293 actors have won Oscars in competitive acting categories or been awarded Honorary or Juvenile Awards.
Other facts:
First Recipient: Emil Jannings, named Best Actor for his performances in “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh” in 1929
Designer: Cedric Gibbons, chief art director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Sculptor: Los Angeles artist George Stanley
Manufacturer: R. S. Owens & Company in Chicago
Manufacturing Time: 3–4 weeks for 50 statuettes
This year movies which bagged the highest number of nominations at Oscars are –
1) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a Kennedy/Marshall Production (Paramount and Warner Bros.) (13 nominations)
2) Slumdog Millionaire, a Celador Films Production (Fox Searchlight) (10 nominations)
3) Milk, a Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production (Focus Features) (8 nominations)
4) "The Dark Knight," a Cape Road Limited Production (Warner Bros.) (8 nominations)
81st Academy awards ceremony was full of joy and filled its owners with pride and accomplishment of being on top of the world…
Winners this year -
Best Supporting - Actress Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Original Screenplay - Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Best Adapted Screenplay - Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Art Direction - Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt // Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Costume Design - Michael O'Connor - The Duchess
Best Make-Up - Greg Cannom - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Cinematography - Anthony Dod Mantle - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger - Dark Knight
Best Visual Effects - Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Sound Editing - Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick - The Dark Knight
Best Sound Mixing - Resul Pookutty - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Film Editing - Chris Dickens - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Original Score - A R Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Song - "Jai Ho" - Music by A.R. Rahman // Lyric by Gulzar - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director - Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actress in Lead Role - Kate Winslet - The Reader
Best Actor in Lead Role - Sean Penn - Milk
Best Animated Film - Andrew Stanton - Wall-E (Walt Disney)

Best Animated Short Film - Kunio Kato La Maison en Petit Cubes (A Robot Communications Production)

Best Live Action Short Film - Jochen Alexander Freydank - Spielzeugland (Toyland) - A Mephisto Film Production

Best Documentary - Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath - The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) (A Pandinlao Films Production)

Best Documentary (Short) - Megan Mylan - Smile Pinki (A Principe Production)

Best Foreign Film - Departures, a Japanese film - (Regent Releasing) A Departures Film

Best Picture Award - Christian Colson - Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) A Celador Films Production
Eight awards, including Best Director and Best Picture.
What an achievement! especially for Slumdog Millionaire …
What winners have to say...
While accepting her best actress Oscar for The Reader , Kate Winslet said, “I would be lying if I said I haven't made a version of this speech before. I think I was probably eight-years-old and staring into the bathroom mirror. This (holding her Oscar) would have been a shampoo bottle. Well it's not a shampoo bottle now.”
After winning for best director award, the British filmmaker Danny Boyle said he'd told his children that “If this miracle ever happened, I would receive it in the spirit of Tigger, which is just what happened.”
Sean Penn smiled and poked fun at his difficult reputation, saying, “I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me often.” He then struck a serious note in urging “equal rights for everyone” amid intolerance.

Penelope Cruz exclaims after winning her Best Supporting Actress award for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, “Has anybody ever fainted here, because I think I may be the first one.”
Kim Ledger, father of Heath Ledger, who posthumously won best supporting actor, “This award tonight would've humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here, his peers, within an industry he so loved.”
Comedian Jerry Lewis, 82, on receiving an Academy humanitarian award, “For most of my life, I've thought that doing good for someone didn't mean you would receive commendation for that kindness until now. This award touches my heart and the very depth of my soul.”