Oscar noms will be delayed

Academy Award nominees are usually revealed on a Tuesday about four weeks before the big show, which is typically held the last Sunday in February. For 2009, though, the targeted Tuesday -- Jan. 20 -- is Inauguration Day.

So the 81st annual Oscar nominees will be revealed Thursday, Jan. 22, and the Academy Awards will be presented Sunday, Feb. 22 -- the earliest Oscars ever.

“It didn’t make any sense for us to try to compete with [the inauguration] from a news point of view,” academy Executive Administrator Ric Robertson said Monday.