Next year, instead of being held on the last or next to last Sunday in February, the Academy Awards aka the Oscars will be held in March. The new date, 2nd March 2014, was set to avoid clashing with the Winter Olympics.
The last Oscars saw heavy criticism over the limited time Academy voters had to consider late-season releases. Also (and we weren’t even aware of this until now), there were some teething troubles with online voting, which was introduced for the first time this year.
Overall, the later date next year will allow for a more relaxed nomination and voting period. Voting nominees will run from 27th December 2013 till 8th January 2013, with nominations announced on 16th January. The final voting for the Oscars will then start on 14th February till 25th February. Above all, it would also ease the competition for viewership as the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will be held on 6th February till 23rd February.
(Source)
