Why the Academy created an Oscar category that no one has ever won

The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California. At the time, there were 12 categories, some of which were divided by genre. Instead of having one category for Best Picture, there was an award for Outstanding Picture and one for Best Unique and Artistic Picture. William Wellman’s Wings won Best Picture and is considered by many to be the equivalent of 1929’s Best Picture. The artistic picture, however, went to the film F. V. Murnova “Sunrise: a song of two people”, and it should be considered historically at least as much as “Wings”.

The first Oscars also had two directing categories (one for comedy and one for drama) and three screenplay nominations (for original screenplay, adapted screenplay and title writing). A lot has changed in the last 95 years of Oscar history.

However, no category has seen more name changes and changes than Best Original Score. There are so many ways to define and classify non-diegetic film music that the Academy is tripping over itself trying to keep up. Over the years, the Academy has separated its rating categories for musicals and non-musicals, and sometimes they distinguish between adapted scores (taken, for example, from stage productions) and completely original scores.

This was due to Hollywood’s hot and cold relationship with musicals. Live musicals were more common in the 1930s and 1940s, and the Academy wanted to reward films accordingly. However, as musicals became less common, some categories could not be filled, requiring the Academy to pivot, either by renaming a category or simply dropping one.

In 2000, the Academy established a category called Best Original Musical to replace the then-discontinued Best Original Musical or Comedy category. Because the Academy’s requirements for entering modern musicals are very strict, no film has been nominated in this category for 25 years.