Does the early bird get the Oscar?

Sunday was the biggest night in hollywood. The Oscars are notorious for being extremely long and saving the best award for last, The Best Picture. 

This year, "No Country For Old Men" not only won best picture, but it also won best best director, best screenplay, and best performance by a supporting actor (Javier Bardem). According to Martin Grove's recent article in The Hollywood Reporter, "No Country For Old Men" won Best Picture because of the remarkable marketing campaign that Miramax implemented in order to promote the film. Grove says that the "campaign started way back before the film opened in limited release last Nov. 9. If anything, "No Country's" win should be a signal to Oscar marketers that campaigning early makes all the sense in the world -- as long as you have a picture that delivers the goods the way "No Country" does."

The article also says that delaying the release of an Oscar contender only causes more problems for the movie because it doesn't give the Academy members enough time to view the films before they leave for winter vacations. So even though some studios might not want to release a movie too soon before the Oscars race in order to keep up the suspence, in the long run it actually helps the movie because if the film is Oscar-worthy, then there is no use in keeping it a secret.