98th Academy Awards 2026: Complete Winners List & Key Highlights
Paul Thomas Anderson's political drama One Battle After Another walked out of the 98th Academy Awards with six Oscars — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Sean Penn), Best Casting and Best Film Editing. Ryan Coogler's Sinners came in with a record 16 nominations and left with four, including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan. Jessie Buckley became the first Irish woman to win Best Actress, taking the prize for Hamnet. The ceremony was held on 15 March 2026 at the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, hosted by Conan O'Brien for the second year running.
What Happened?
Sunday night, 15 March 2026 — the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood hosted the 98th Academy Awards, with Conan O'Brien back for a second stint as host after his well-received debut at the 97th ceremony in 2025. The evening had been framed all season as a two-film race between Sinners and One Battle After Another, and it played out that way right to the end.
One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson's dense, relentless political thriller — took six prizes in all, sweeping the four biggest categories of the night: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Casting. Sinners went into the night holding the all-time nominations record at 16 (surpassing the previous mark of 14 shared by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land), and converted four of those into wins, including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan and Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler.
The ceremony also made history in three other ways: Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win Best Cinematography for Sinners; the Best Casting category made its debut as the 24th competitive Oscar — the first new category since Best Animated Feature was introduced in 2001; and the Best Live Action Short ended in only the seventh tie in the Oscars' 98-year history.
Why Does It Matter?
- Sean Penn's Best Supporting Actor win for One Battle After Another was his third Oscar — he previously won for Mystic River (2004) and Milk (2009). He was not present at the ceremony to collect the award.
- Jessie Buckley's win for Hamnet made her the first Irish woman to take the Best Actress Oscar, capping a dominant awards season run that saw her win at multiple precursor ceremonies.
- Norway's Sentimental Value won Best International Feature Film, giving director Joachim Trier his first Academy Award despite five nominations on the night.
- The documentary prize went to Mr. Nobody Against Putin — a politically charged choice in a year where O'Brien's opening monologue directly referenced "chaotic, frightening times."
- Ludwig Göransson won Best Original Score for Sinners — his third Oscar after Black Panther — and KPop Demon Hunters picked up both Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for "Golden."
Major Awards — 98th Academy Awards 2026
| # | Category | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Best Picture | Adam Somner, Sara Murphy & Paul Thomas Anderson (Producers) | One Battle After Another |
| 2 | Best Director | Paul Thomas Anderson | One Battle After Another |
| 3 | Best Actor | Michael B. Jordan | Sinners |
| 4 | Best Actress | Jessie Buckley | Hamnet |
| 5 | Best Supporting Actor | Sean Penn | One Battle After Another |
| 6 | Best Supporting Actress | Amy Madigan | Weapons |
| 7 | Best Original Screenplay | Ryan Coogler | Sinners |
| 8 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Paul Thomas Anderson | One Battle After Another |
| 9 | Best Casting (New Category) | Cassandra Kulukundis | One Battle After Another |
Craft & Technical Awards — 98th Academy Awards 2026
| # | Category | Winner | Film |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Best Animated Feature | KPop Demon Hunters | Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans & Michelle L.M. Wong |
| 2 | Best International Feature | Sentimental Value | Norway (Dir. Joachim Trier) |
| 3 | Best Original Score | Ludwig Göransson | Sinners |
| 4 | Best Original Song | "Golden" | KPop Demon Hunters |
| 5 | Best Cinematography | Autumn Durald Arkapaw (first woman) | Sinners |
| 6 | Best Film Editing | Andy Jurgensen | One Battle After Another |
| 7 | Best Costume Design | Kate Hawley | Frankenstein |
| 8 | Best Makeup & Hairstyling | Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel & Cliona Furey | Frankenstein |
| 9 | Best Production Design | Frankenstein Team | Frankenstein |
| 10 | Best Visual Effects | Avatar: Fire and Ash Team | Avatar: Fire and Ash |
| 11 | Best Sound | F1 Sound Team | F1 |
Short Films & Documentaries — 98th Academy Awards 2026
| # | Category | Winner | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Best Documentary Feature | Mr. Nobody Against Putin | Dir. David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin et al. |
| 2 | Best Documentary Short | All the Empty Rooms | Joshua Seftel & Conall Jones |
| 3 | Best Live Action Short | The Singers & Two People Exchanging Saliva | Historic TIE — 7th in Oscars history |
| 4 | Best Animated Short | The Girl Who Cried Pearls | Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski |
Exam Relevance
- SSC and Banking exams ask Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress every year — lock in One Battle After Another, Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) and Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) for 2026.
- UPSC current affairs covers historic firsts: Autumn Durald Arkapaw (first woman to win Best Cinematography), Jessie Buckley (first Irish woman to win Best Actress), Best Casting as the first new competitive category since 2001.
- Railway exams often test the host (Conan O'Brien, second consecutive year), venue (Dolby Theatre, Hollywood) and the nomination record (16 nominations by Sinners).
- Sean Penn's third Oscar win is a notable static GK fact — previous wins were Mystic River (2004) and Milk (2009).
- The historic tie in Best Live Action Short is the seventh in Academy history — a detail that appears in "which of the following" style questions.
Test Your Knowledge
Q4. Sinners set a new all-time record for the most Oscar nominations. How many nominations did it receive at the 98th Academy Awards?
Q5. Which country's film won the Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards 2026?
Q6. Best Casting made its debut as a new competitive Oscar category at the 98th Academy Awards. Who won the first-ever Oscar in this category?
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