2026 Oscars Recap and What Picks I Got Right

The 98th Academy Awards came on this past Sunday and it went exactly how I thought it would, especially in regard to the winners at the ceremony. Conan O'Brien was the host, and I thought the jokes were OK although the hosting was better than the previous years in my opinion. I honestly think they're phoning it in at this point because the Oscars are heading to YouTube in 2029, which I think it shouldn't but simulcast on ABC and YouTube as well as Hulu. 

I think they could maybe switch it up with who hosts next time, maybe someone like Kevin Hart or Marlon Wayans could host next time. Speaking of the hosting, I do think the opening segment was a little too long, same with some of the skits the announcers did because I think it somewhat cut into the speech times. Despite that, I do think the ceremony was decent overall, but it seemed like they are phoning it in like I stated. 

Now on to the winners, I had changed some of my picks when I decided to play Oscars Pick'Em on ESPN, but I kept majority of the predictions from my blog post. Out of 24 Awards announced, I accurately predicted 16 winners, which I think was pretty good. Unlike others on social media, I knew Sinners was not going to sweep but was obviously going to win some awards although I was surprised Marty Supreme didn't win anything, even in the technical categories.

F1 winning for Sound was my choice, which made sense although it lost to One Battle After Another for film editing, which I got wrong. In hindsight, I can see how as F1 probably had the most obvious editing of all nominees in that category. Golden won Best Original Song, which I believe was due to popularity or maybe the influence of Netflix on the film industry now because I did not feel it was the best choice, just like I didn't agree with One Battle After Another winning Best Picture nor Best Casting.

In my opinion, the Best Actor category was quite weak this year, but it didn't go as expected I'll say and even though Penn was the sure winner all season, I personally thought Lindo and Stellan Skarsgård were better choices, but Lindo couldn't win if they were planning on giving Best Actor to Jordan. I also felt Jack O'Connell and Saul Williams, both from Sinners, were overlooked this awards season. They also had great performances as well as Lindo in my opinion.

What I chose on Oscars Pick'Em, correct answers in green and incorrect in red:

• Best Actor - Michael B. Jordan
• Best Actress - Jessie Buckley
• Best Supporting Actor - Sean Penn
• Best Supporting Actress - Amy Madigan
• Animated Feature Film - K-pop Demon Hunters
• Animated Short Film - Butterfly (The Girl Who Cried Pearls)
• Casting - Sinners (One Battle After Another)
• Cinematography - Frankenstein (Sinners)
• Costume Design - Frankenstein
• Directing - Paul Thomas Anderson
• Documentary Feature Film - The Alabama Solution (Mr. Nobody Against Putin)
• Documentary Short Film - All The Empty Rooms
• Film Editing - F1 (One Battle After Another)
• International Feature Film - Sentimental Value
• Live Action Short Film - Butcher's Stain (The Singers & Two People Exchanging Saliva)
• Makeup and Hairstyling - Frankenstein
• Original Score - Ludwig Goransson
• Original Song - Golden (KPop Demon Hunters)
• Production Design - Marty Supreme (Frankenstein)
• Sound - F1
• Visual Effects - Avatar: Fire and Ash
• Adapted Screenplay - One Battle After Another
• Original Screenplay - Ryan Coogler 
• Best Picture - Hamnet (One Battle After Another)

https://fantasy.espn.com/games/oscars-pickem-2026/picks?id=7a3c5ca0-1f35-11f1-9a49-9107d93372e2