For the first time in more than 20 years, the Oscars are introducing a new category.

Following decades of calls for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize casting directors during its annual awards, the organization’s Board of Governors announced on Thursday that it will finally do just that. Beginning with the 2026 ceremony—that is, beginning with films released in 2025—the Oscars will bestow an annual, competitive Academy Award for achievement in casting. 

“Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang said in a joint statement. “We congratulate our Casting Directors Branch members on this exciting milestone and for their commitment and diligence throughout this process.”

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This is the first new category to be formally created since the animated-feature prize, which was first presented in 2002. Before that, you would have to go back to 1981, the first year of the makeup and hairstyling Oscar. Generally speaking, the Academy’s governors resist any and all additions. “They’re not looking to add awards if possible…. There is something to be said for keeping the number of Oscars distributed on the given evening within a manageable number,” Bruce Davis, who spent 20 years as the Academy’s executive director, recently told me. “They can think of lots of other things to give awards for, but they’re not moving in that direction.”

Indeed, a casting-award proposal was previously discussed by the governors back in 1999—and was ultimately rejected. Yet casting directors make up a whole branch of the Academy (as of 2013), and the craft is recognized by other awards bodies including the Emmys. “I’ve heard the arguments against [a casting Oscar], but it doesn’t really make sense to me that you would say, ‘Well, a casting director doesn’t really choose the actors, the director does,’” Jeanne McCarthy, casting director on Anchorman and Eileen, told Vanity Fair back in 2014. “As a costume designer would bring a series of sketches to a director, it’s a collaboration that is dependent on the casting director’s instincts. It’s a very crucial part of filmmaking.”

Clearly, that sentiment was finally agreed upon. “On behalf of the members of the Casting Directors Branch, we’d like to thank the Board of Governors, the Awards Committee, and Academy leadership for their support,” Academy Casting Directors Branch governors Richard Hicks, Kim Taylor-Coleman, and Debra Zane cheered in a joint statement. “This award is a deserved acknowledgment of our casting directors’ exceptional talents and a testament to the dedicated efforts of our branch.”

More details on eligibility and voting systems for the award will be announced in April 2025, along with other rules updates to the Oscars.