The famous Oscar envelopes have gotten a new design this year, the Academy announced on Wednesday.
And those envelopes, AMPAS president Tom Sherak confirmed to TheWrap, will once again be opened to the accompaniment of the phrase "And the Oscar goes to … " after a one-year experiment in going back to the more pointed "And the winner is …. "
Historically, the envelopes have been printed on heavy cream-colored stock, with plain block letters sporting the name of the category and, inside, the phrase "And the Oscar goes to" and the winner's name and film. Here's the description of the new envelopes and cards, from the AMPAS press release:
"The outside of the envelope and flap is an Art Deco-inspired satin gold foil frame with an ecru inset panel bearing the name of the award category in a rich charcoal ink. The envelope will contain a heavyweight ecru card featuring gold foil accents and a gold leaf-embossed Oscar statuette along with the phrase, 'And the Oscar goes to …. ' The winner's name will be printed in charcoal ink and mounted onto a matching, red lacquer hand-wrapped frame. The back of the card will be printed with the award category."
The new design was requested by Oscar show producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer and executed by Marc Friedland, a Los Angeles-based custom stationer. Friedland will produce cards bearing the names of each of this year's nominees; after the ballots are tabulated, PricewaterhouseCoopers partners Brad Oltmanns and Rick Rosas will prepare two complete sets of correct envelopes, and destroy the remaining cards.
Each man will carry a complete set of envelopes on Oscar night.
Last year's change from "And the Oscar goes to … " to "And the winner is … " was made at the request of show producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman, said Sherak. "They were trying to set it up as more of a competition, which of course it is," he said. "But this year, the idea is, 'You're invited.' It's a different way to sell what you're doing."
In general, he added, the Academy is more comfortable with "And the Oscar goes to," which has been used for more than 20 years.
"I think we all believe that when we went to 'And the Oscar goes to,' it was a more gentle way of saying to all the nominees, 'You all deserve it, but here's who gets it.'"
(Photos by Patrick Prather/AMPAS)
