The 94th Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, will be one to watch, not only because of the fantastic films released in 2021 but because of the new Fan Favorite award. 

In previous years, votes for the Oscars were only cast by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This year, the public is allowed to vote for their favorite movie for the Fan Favorite award. There is a lengthy number of films nominated for this award, consisting of all the productions eligible for this year’s Academy Awards. 

Voting started on Feb. 14, 2022, and people could cast votes two different ways. Twitter users could vote for their favorite movie using the #OscarsFanFavorite hashtag. Other voters could vote on the Oscars Fan Favorite website, which is no longer available, as voting for the Fan Favorite award ended on Mar. 3. 

As soon as the Oscars announced this award, an abundance of fans were casting their ballots. Although the award winner will not be announced until the official ceremony on Mar. 27, 2022, the top films for this award were clear. Some of these movies include Spider-Man: No Way Home, Encanto, Dune, Don’t Look Up and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. 

The Oscars gave the public another chance to participate in the 94th Oscars by one more new open vote award, Most Cheer-Worthy Movie Moment Ever. People could vote similarly to the Fan Favorite award using the #OscarsCheerMoment hashtag on Twitter or the Oscars Fan Favorite Website. 

Voting not only allowed people to advocate for their favorite movie and cheer-worthy moment of 2021, but it gave opportunities to win prizes as well.  Voting for Fan Favorite entered fans into a sweepstake to win a trip to the 2023 Oscars and be a guest presenter. Voting for their Most Cheer-Worthy Moment Ever gave people a chance to win free movies for a year with passes to a theatre chain, as well as subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+ and Apple TV+. 

Since starting in 1929, the Oscars have grown and developed, and this year society is getting a chance to see how much they have changed. Opening voting for two new awards will gain more viewers for the Oscars, because people will want to see if their movie of choice emerged victorious. It also creates an arguably more meaningful prize for the winner, knowing that their movie moved the most people worldwide. Tune in to the Oscars 2022 to see who earns the most votes for these new awards.