Governors Awards


The Governors Awards presentation is an annual award ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Three awards that signify lifetime achievement within the film industry – the Academy Honorary Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award – are presented at this ceremony. The first Governors Awards ceremony was held on November 14, 2009. These three awards were formerly presented during the main Academy Awards ceremony, which now conducts a short mention and appearance of the awards recipients after displaying a montage of the Governors Awards presentation.

Description and history

The Governors Awards present the Academy Honorary Award, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award are presented at the ceremony. The Governors Awards are held leading up to the main Academy Awards ceremony. The Awards are not voted upon but, rather, are conferred by the Academy's Board of Governors.
The Academy Honorary Awards and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awards are both Oscar statuettes, while the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, formerly a small bust of Thalberg on a plinth, is now also an Oscar statuette as of 2024.
The Academy Honorary Award is given for "extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy". The Thalberg Award is given to "a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production".
The board members of AMPAS had previously been concerned about awarding more than one or two Honorary Academy Awards each year for fear of lengthening the main Academy Awards presentation but, in most iterations of the Governors Awards to date, they have awarded three Honorary Academy Awards. In the history of the Governors Awards, the Hersholt Award and the Thalberg Award has typically been given in separate years.
The smaller presentation of the Governors Awards was designed to invoke the feel of the early Academy Award ceremonies. During the event, several notable colleagues of the awardees give them tributes before they make an acceptance speech. Though the event has not been televised, thus far, the Academy posted most of the speeches online.
Since its inception, the event has become a major red-carpet stop for many prospective Oscar hopefuls, including actors and filmmakers, and is, in some ways, the first major stop of the seasonal Awards Circuit.

Ceremonies and honorees

1st Annual Governors Awards

The Academy held its 1st Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 14, 2009. The following awards were presented.
The Academy held its 2nd Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 13, 2010. The following awards were presented.
The Academy held its 3rd Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 12, 2011. The following awards were presented.
The Academy held its 4th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on December 1, 2012. The following awards were presented.
  • Academy Honorary Award: D. A. Pennebaker, Hal Needham and George Stevens Jr.
  • Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Jeffrey Katzenberg

    5th Annual Governors Awards

The Academy held its 5th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 16, 2013. The following awards were presented.
The Academy held its 6th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 8, 2014. The following awards were presented.
The Academy held its 7th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 14, 2015. Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs gave a speech in support of France following the November 2015 Paris attacks the day before. The following awards were presented.
The Academy held its 8th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 12, 2016, and presented the following awards:
The Academy held its 9th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 11, 2017, and presented the following awards:
The Academy held its 10th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 18, 2018, and presented the following awards:
The Academy held its 11th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on October 27, 2019, and presented the following awards:
The Academy held its 12th Annual Governors Awards ceremony in on March 25, 2022. The following awards were presented:
On December 22, 2021, the AMPAS announced that due to COVID-19 pandemic-related concerns—involving the widespread surge of the Omicron variant in the United States—that it "made the decision to change plans for hosting the ceremony in person on January 15, 2022," with a new date to be announced. The ceremony would afterwards be held on the newly scheduled date of March 25, 2022.

13th Annual Governors Awards

The Academy held its 13th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 19, 2022.
The Academy planned to hold its 14th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 18, 2023. However, on September 6 it was moved to January 9, 2024 due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The ceremony was hosted by comedian John Mulaney.
The Academy held its 15th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 17, 2024. The recipients had been announced on June 12, 2024. Academy Honorary Award recipient Quincy Jones died two weeks before the ceremony and his daughter Rashida Jones accepted the award on his behalf. The ceremony was hosted by actor Colman Domingo. The following awards were presented.
The Academy held its 16th Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 16, 2025. The recipients had been announced on June 17, 2025.