The 2026 awards season is upon us and there’s no lack of excitement about top movie picks across the St. Ambrose campus. The 98th annual Oscars, airing Sunday, March 15th, already has students making their yearly watch-party plans and betting on who’s taking home the nights biggest awards.
“My four close friends and I pick up food and go back to one of our houses to watch,” says SAU junior Carsen Mellinger. “We always make sure to fill out the prediction sheets ahead of time because we like to see who was right.”
Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” received 16 total nominations, breaking the record for most Academy Award nominations, a. record previously held by “La La Land” (2016) at 14 total nominations.
Senior Christopher Boone says, “I don’t follow the Oscar’s, but even I heard that “Sinners” broke that record. That’s how you know that movie is something else.”
Among “Sinners” 16 nominations are Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, as well as Best Original Score. It’s realistic use of injury and blood secured nominations for Best Makeup and Best Costume.
“Sinners” is also up for the ceremony’s biggest award of night, Best Picture, the award that “Anora” secured in 2025. Coogler’s film is competing against big hitters like “Begonia”, “Frankenstein”, “F1”, and “Marty Supreme”. “I personally, enjoyed “Marty Supreme” the most,” says movie-fan and education major Carleigh Easton. “It was action-packed and entertaining from beginning to end, but, from a non-biased view, maybe “Sinners” should win. The cinematography was beautiful and the story was really good. It was portrayed really well by so many good actors and characters.” Teonna Taylor is nominated for best supporting actress, a category she won earlier in the year at the Gold Globes.
Notably, “Wicked: For Good” did not receive a single Oscar nomination, drawing some speculation about being snubbed. “I really liked “Wicked!”’ It deserved at least one nomination for something!” says disgruntled fan and communications major Jess Vargas. The first installment of the “Wicked” franchise did not win any of it’s Oscar nominations last year, either.
Hosted by Conan O’Brien for the second year in a row, the 2026 Oscars promises to be a star-studded event with anticipated appearances by Timothee Chalamet, Emma Stone, Michael B Jordan, and Leonardo DiCaprio just to name a few. “The red carpet is one of my favorite parts of the whole thing,” says junior Ethan Ross. “It’s fun to see what direction they go with their looks and I like being part of the online discourse about what we like and don’t like.”
There are some minor changes to the Academy’s voting process this year. Deadline reports, “One of the most notable is that voters must now watch all the nominated films in each category in order to have eligibility in the final voting round.” The voters are of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, made up of around 10,000 film and arts professionals.
This year’s awards also feature a new category, Achievement in Casting, recognizing casting directors for their crucial roles in these films.
You’ll be able to catch the 98th annual Oscars Sunday March 15th, broadcasting on ABC and streaming live on Hulu.
