The Oscars are one of the most heavily anticipated events in the calendar with millions desperate to see if their favourite actors and film creators will be commended for their work over the past year.
Just being nominated for an award at the Oscars is a major honour for anyone in the film industry and for those who go one step further and win, they are handed a trophy which is a golden statue of a man holding something in their aims.
When was the Oscar Statuette brought in?
The statuette has been in place since 1929, further adding to the prestige around receiving one, or even just being nominated to receive it.
MGM art director Cedric Gibbons designed the trophy, choosing to make it a statuette of a knight standing on a reel of film, whilst gripping a crusader’s sword.
Los Angeles sculptor George Stanley was then tasked with bringing the design to life, and it has remained that way ever since.
The statue is known by its nickname, Oscar. It stands at 13 and a half inches tall and is a fairly heft 8 and a half pounds in weight for its size.
The five spokes in the reel represent the five original branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.
Who is the model for the statue?
It is believed that the statue itself is actually modelled on Emilio Fernandez, who was a Mexican filmmaker and actor.
The story goes that when working in Hollywood, he met the wife of Cedric Gibbons. He asked Fernandez to pose naked for a sketch to create the basis for the trophy.
Fernandez was supposedly unsure about doing so, but eventually he did and the trophy has remained the same ever since.