Ahead of next month's 2024 Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has announced the establishment of a new category honouring casting directors.
Following decades of lobbying, the category for Achievement in Casting will begin being awarded at the 98th annual Academy Awards in 2026, honouring movies released in 2025. This marks the first new competitive award introduced since 2001, when the Best Animated Feature Film category was added to the roster, bringing the total number of awards given out to 24.
“Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a joint statement. “We congratulate our Casting Directors Branch members on this exciting milestone and for their commitment and diligence throughout this process.”
Academy Casting Directors Branch governors Richard Hicks, Kim Taylor-Coleman and Debra Zane added, “On behalf of the members of the Casting Directors Branch, we’d like to thank the Board of Governors, the Awards Committee and Academy leadership for their support. This award is a deserved acknowledgment of our casting directors’ exceptional talents and a testament to the dedicated efforts of our branch.”
AMPAS's Casting Directors Branch was launched in 2013 and now has almost 160 members.