Also, the voting members don't necessarily actually decide their own vote. Often if they have no opinion on a category they will ask a relative or friend, who may or may not actually be involved in the industry.

This happens a lot in the voting for best animated feature. It is fairly common for an older voter to have seen none of the nominees. He asks his grandchildren what "cartoon" they liked best that year, or remembers which movie's merchandise they frequently wear, and that's the one he votes for.

I remember seeing a couple article at animation publications where they asked a bunch of voters how they voted and why in years where the winner differed from what the majority of people working in animation expected, and found that the "my grandchildren liked it" factor was the main reason.

I wonder how it works for the more technical categories, like best sound editing? Asking your grandchildren "what movie's sound editing did you like this year?" is probably not going to get a useful response.

Here's a video that talks about one of the categories (best Foreign movie). FWIW, I don't dislike the Oscars much, I sometimes even watch the whole thing if I think the host will be funny in a way that pisses off Meryl Streep.

Sorry about non-English words being sprinkled in though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWizRledAr8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFENw9T7qUw

Why are the Oscars more prestigious than the Golden Globes?

Because the Globes are voted on by the film press and not actual film practitioners. As an analog, it would be like patients at a hospital voting for the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Still a nice award but much different in the electorate.

More specifically, the globes are voted on by the foreign film press and the process is notoriously corrupt.

and the Oscars aren't? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhfxo8xPNGU