The cheetah no longer has spots. I had thought they had already finalized the rules for this year’s Oscars, but two new items were announced today: the first is that the music branch has finally relented from his discriminatory and easily-manipulated rules to require five nominees and for members to rank them. There’s no more rating each nominee, thus giving some composers the opportunity to downgrade certain high profile contenders.

Additionally, years after it should have already been considered, they are changing the category to Best Production Design in lieu of Best Art Direction. Below is the full press release.

Beverly Hills, CA – The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has approved additional rules for the 85th Academy Awards. The most significant changes affect the Original Song category, in which there will now be five nominees.

During the nominations process, all voting members of the Music Branch will receive a Reminder List of works submitted in the category and a DVD copy of the song clips. Members will be asked to watch the clips and then vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements in the category. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award.

Additionally, upon the recommendation from the Designers Branch (formerly the Art Directors Branch), the Art Direction award will be known as the Production Design award.

Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees. The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Academy’s Board of Governors for approval.

For the complete rules for the 85th Academy Awards, visit oscars.org/rules.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre™ at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscar® presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.