What is the history behind the Academy Awards?

               The first Academy Awards ceremony was organised on May 16th, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, away from the public eye. It was a very private affair, with only two hundred and seventy people as guests. The awards were given out at a banquet, set up at the hotel’s Blossom Room. The tickets for each of the guests, cost five dollars.

               The first Oscar ceremony comprised of 12 categories, apart from two special honours. The awards were meant to honour people responsible for cinematic achievements in 1927 and 1928. There was very little element of surprise at the first Oscar Awards ceremony, as the names of the winners had already been declared three months earlier. The ceremony ran for just 15 minutes.

               Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11:00 pm on the night of the awards. The Academy has, since 1941, used a sealed envelope to reveal the name of the winners.

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