Oscar® Winners to Make It Personal at the Governors Ball

Beverly Hills, CA — For the first time, Academy Award® winners will be able to have their Oscar statuettes personalized with engraved nameplates on Oscar Night® at the Governors Ball, the official celebration immediately following the 82nd Academy Awards® on Sunday, March 7, 2010, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

In preparation for the night, the Academy will create 197 nameplates, one for each 2009 nominee in every category. The engraving will include the nominee’s name, category, film title and year. After the winners have been announced, the unused nameplates will be recycled.

“An Oscar statuette just isn’t complete until a nameplate is attached,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “The Governors Ball is the perfect place for Oscar winners to add that final touch as they celebrate their accomplishment and the year’s movies.”

Previously, Academy Award winners were asked to bring their Oscars® to the Academy in the weeks following the ceremony, at which time the nameplates – engraved only after the winners were announced – were affixed to the statuettes.

At the Governors Ball, which will be take place at the Grand Ballroom on the top level of the Hollywood & Highland Center®, Academy Award winners will be invited to enter a specially designed area where Academy technicians will affix the personalized nameplates to each Oscar.

R.S. Owens, the company which manufactures the Oscar statuettes, will produce and engrave the nameplates for the Academy.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.