In addition to the regular annual awards determined by vote of the membership, the Academy’s Board of Governors is empowered to confer Scientific and Technical Awards, Honorary Awards, Special Achievement Awards and other special honors. Among these is the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, a bronze bust of the legendary producer, which is given to “a creative producer whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production.” It is considered the highest accolade a producer can receive.

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an Oscar® statuette, is given to “an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” The Gordon E. Sawyer Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given to “an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry.” The Thalberg, Hersholt and Sawyer Awards are not necessarily given annually; each is awarded only when, in the opinion of the Board of Governors, a thoroughly deserving recipient emerges.

The Board of Governors confers Scientific and Technical Awards after receiving recommendations from a committee consisting of some of the most eminent scientists and technicians in the industry. These awards recognize outstanding innovations in filmmaking equipment and technique – innovations that have proven themselves over time, not simply in connection with one particular motion picture.

Honorary Awards may be given for outstanding achievements not otherwise recognized within the category structure of the Academy Awards. They may be given for extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, for exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences or for outstanding service to the Academy. They have been awarded, for example, to Sidney Poitier “in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and a human being,” to choreographer Michael Kidd for his lifetime of work, and to writer Ernest Lehman in appreciation of his body of work.

Special Achievement Awards, conferred by the Board of Governors, may be given for achievements that make an exceptional contribution to the motion pictures for which they were created, but for which there is no annual award category. These awards have been given, for example, to Benjamin Burtt Jr. for the creation of the alien creature and robot voices in “Star Wars” (1977) and to John Lasseter for his leadership of the Pixar team that created the first feature-length computer-animated film, “Toy Story” (1995). These awards are rare. Lasseter’s, a decade ago, was the most recently given.