By: Kate Battaglia

The Oscars are attended by guests that include film personalities from around the world. Everyone dresses their best for Oscar night, because it is the biggest night for movies.
It is a huge honor to have your film even nominated for an Oscar. Winning an Oscar is amongst the highest honors for anyone in the film industry.
The Oscars are awarded for various categories. The popular categories include Best Director, Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Original Song. While every category is filled with incredible talent, most people eagerly wait for the results of the “Big Three Categories.” They are the Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the Best Picture. If a film wins Best Picture, it means that it was voted the best movie for the entire year!
Some past winners of Best Picture are Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: Return on the King, and The Sound of Music, just to name a few. Have you seen any Best Pictures?
The film that won Best Picture this year was 12 Years a Slave, which is a story about a free man from the north who is sold into slavery. Be careful though! A lot of movies nominated for Oscars are Rated R, which means you have to be 17 years old to see it without a parent accompanying you! The ratings are necessary because even very good movies may have content that is inappropriate for younger audiences.
One movie many of you may have seen is Frozen. It won the Oscar for the Best Animated Feature. Do you love the song “Let it Go?” So did the Academy! They voted it Best Original Song.
Mathew McConaughey won “Best Actor” for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club, which is a movie about AIDS patients and is also Rated R. Jared Leto, who plays his friend in the movie, won “Best Supporting Actor”.
Cate Blanchett, won “Best Actress” for her portrayal of Jeanette "Jasmine" Francis in Blue Jasmine. Lupita Nyong'o won “Best Supporting Actress” for her performance in 12 Years a Slave. She is the first woman from Kenya to win the award! Wow! In her acceptance speech, she said, “When I look down at this golden statue may it remind me, and every little child, that no matter where you are from your dreams are valid.” Do you dream of winning an Oscar?
There are a lot of awards to get through, and it is the host that makes the entire ceremony go smoothly. The host welcomes the guests, gets the show started, and announces who is about to come on the stage. He or she tries to make the ceremony as entertaining as possible, so they tell a lot of jokes!
This year, comedian Ellen DeGeneres hosted the show. She is known to be funny . The most unexpected joke (and my favorite part) of the evening was her ordering pizza for the audience, and asking a few stars in the front row to chip in to tip the delivery guy!
Can you imagine delivering pizza to Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts? It is a good thing the stars didn’t get any pizza on their fancy clothes!
Gem words:
incredible: so extraordinary as to seem impossible.
inappropriate: not proper or suitable.
portrayal: the way in which an actor plays a character in a movie or a play