![Photo by Keva Elie ’26. Graphics from Unsplash by Samuel Ramos, Flickr by James Munson, and Wikimedia Commons by Burkhard Mücke [left to right].](https://mfswordsworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/season-4-1200x739.png)
The 2026 awards season has arrived, with the Oscars, Golden Globes, and Grammys all occurring between January and March. These shows all present awards to films produced in 2025, except for the Grammys, which present music awards. Before tuning in, here are some topics and media sources you should review to ensure you have a clear understanding of the shows, the upcoming nominations, and some of the works that will most likely be up for awards.
#1: Watch Sinners (2025)
Directed by Ryan Coogler, Sinners features two brothers, Smoke and Stack, who return to their home in the Mississippi Delta to open up a juke joint, an establishment historically run in the South by African Americans for dancing, music, drinking, and gambling. Their journey takes course over one day and ends with a face-off with vampire Remmick, who plans to feast on the souls of the party attendees. According to Variety, you can predict Sinners to be nominated for around 13 out of the 24 categories at next year’s Oscars. This will likely be an impressive feat, as in 1997, Titanic, a movie that is still revered today for its impact on Hollywood and impressive filming techniques, was nominated 14 times.
Not only is this movie praised for its interesting plot and production, but it is also highly regarded for its cultural relevance. Sinners explores the themes of segregation, cultural appropriation, and spirituality within Black communities across America by incorporating historical facts, such as the segregation of Black and white areas within certain towns, as well as symbolism, such as Remmick representing the constant threat of oppression that Black Americans face.
Sinners is currently available for streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, and Disney+. The official Oscars nomination list will be released on January 22, 2026.
#2: ‘Addison’ by Addison Rae
On June 6, 2025, singer Addison Rae released her debut album, Addison, reaching the number 4 spot on the Billboard 200 upon its release. Controversially, Rae was nominated for the Best New Artist award for the 2026 Grammys. This controversy stems from the fact that her musical career gained prominence through her TikTok content, particularly with “The Hype House” in 2019, where she performed less professional content, such as dancing, humor, and lifestyle content. Her seemingly rapid separation from this image and rebrand as a serious singer has caused many to view her as inauthentic.
Some of this reluctance to view Rae as genuine also comes from the backlash she faced after introducing herself to President Donald Trump at an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in 2021.
Rae is accompanied by seven other artists in the Best New Artist nominee list, including Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, The Marías, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, and Lola Young.
#3: New Grammy Category List
In June 2025, The Recording Academy introduced two new award categories: Best Traditional Country Album and Best Album Cover, and renamed the Best Country Album category to Best Contemporary Country Album. The Best Traditional Country Album category includes albums that stick to the traditional sound of country music, which, according to the Grammys, “[allows] those who hold true to the old ways to see their work appreciated on its own terms.”
At the 2025 Grammys, Beyoncé won Best Country Album, making her the last person to receive the award. This caused large debates on social media, as many viewers of the awards show believed that her album was “not country enough.” Some believe that the renaming of the category is a direct response to Beyoncé winning the award and the backlash from that.
This year, the nominees in the Best Traditional Country Album category are:
- Hard Headed Woman by Margo Price
- Oh What a Beautiful World by Willie Nelson
- Ain’t in It for My Health by Zach Top
- American Romance by Lukas Nelson
- Dollar a Day by Charley Crockett
For the Best Contemporary Country Album award, the nominees are:
- Beautifully Broken by Jelly Roll
- Postcards from Texas by Miranda Lambert
- Evangeline vs. the Machine by Eric Church
- Patterns by Kelsea Ballerini
- Snipe Hunter by Tyler Childers
The new Best Album Cover award will be presented as a complement to the Best Recording Package award, which is presented to an album that has the best overall visual look. Specifically, the award includes “predominantly new” artwork. This year, the nominees for this category are:
- CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator
- The Crux by Djo
- Debí Tirar Más Fotos by Bad Bunny
- Glory by Perfume Genius
- moisturizer by Wet Leg
#4: AI Regulations Within Film
In 2025, The Brutalist, directed by Brady Corbet, won best picture at the 2025 Oscars despite the large controversy surrounding its usage of artificial intelligence technology to perfect the accent of the main character. Additionally, other Oscar-nominated films in 2025, Emilia Perez, used AI tools for enhancing the production of the film.
Following this, the large controversy surrounding the use of AI in film increased. Last September, SAG-AFTRA, the labor union for actors and media professionals, released a statement arguing that generative AI cannot replace human performance in response to Tilly Norwood, an AI performer, seeking representation.
On April 21, 2025, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the film professional society behind the Oscar Awards, updated many of its rules for the critics’ voting, including one stating that generative AI tools would “neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination” and that when voting, the Academy would “[take] into account the degree to which a human was at the heart of the creative authorship when choosing which movie to award.”
Additionally, the topic of AI usage in film arose at the 2025 Marrakech Film Festival. Film professionals Jenna Ortega, Celine Song, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Bong Joon Ho all attended the festival as the jury, which consisted of film professionals who assessed films’ quality for an award. When asked about the role AI has played in both filmmaking and the world, the jury unanimously noted that while AI has the potential to do good, its lack of soul and human understanding makes it incapable of replacing humans in creative roles.
#5: New Podcast Award at the Golden Globes
On May 7, 2025, the Golden Globes announced that they will be presenting awards for podcasts for the first time in Golden Globes history.
Additionally, the Golden Globes are the first major entertainment awards show to recognize podcasts as deserving of an award. Twenty-five podcasts were nominated for the inaugural award, ranging from more serious news podcasts, such as CBS News’ “48 Hours” and Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy.”
The inaugural award list includes podcasts from controversial right-wing podcasters, such as Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro, Theo Von, Joe Rogan, and Tucker Carlson.
Despite these podcasts already having been nominated, the nominees must pay a $500 fee for the submission of their podcast for consideration. Additionally, the nominees are allowed to purchase marketing packages from Penske Media Corporation, the company behind the Golden Globes, worth up to $75,000 to promote their show for an award.
According to Status, this would mean that podcasters with the money to promote their podcast could essentially purchase their way into a Golden Globe.
Popular shows missing from this long list include Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” and DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, and Charlamagne Tha God’s “The Breakfast Club,” two shows that some believe were “snubbed” for consideration for a Golden Globe nomination.
