By Michael Grossberg
“And the nominees are…”
Those words are familiar to just about everyone in America, since people frequently repeat them at several of the biggest annual televised awards ceremonies.
Especially at the Academy Awards, informally known as the Oscars – and still the premier annual American awards show in arts and entertainment despite its recent decline.
Yet I’d argue that such an iconic phrase is often misleading. Worse, it can lead to confusion and misperceptions about other awards – including our own.
The Prometheus Awards use the term “nominees” quite differently than the Oscars do.
What the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which sponsors and presents the Academy Awards, dubs “nominees” is actually what the Prometheus awards quite properly refers to as finalists.
That may seem like mere semantics, or a minor disagreement over labeling, but it’s an important distinction with significant differences.
In fact, finalists attain a higher level of recognition than nominees – and thus deserve greater respect and their own distinct name.
