54th Academy Awards

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger (‡).[12]

• Barbara Stanwyck – "For superlative creativity and unique contribution to the art of screen acting."[13]

The award recognizes individuals whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the motion picture industry.[14]

• Danny Kaye[13]

The award honors "creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production".[15]

• Albert R. Broccoli[13]

• Ben Burtt and Richard L. Anderson for the sound effects editing of Raiders of the Lost Ark[16]

Beginning with this ceremony, AMPAS introduced a new competitive award that would honor achievement in makeup. According to Academy executive administrator John Pavlik, the category would be presented if a special committee composed of makeup artists, hairstylists, cinematographers, and other related craftspeople determined that at least one film was deemed worthy of such awards. A maximum of seven films eligible would be needed for the award to be handed out. The committee would determine the number of nominees with five being the highest possible count.[24] Prior to the introduction of this category, 1964's 7 Faces of Dr. Lao and 1968's Planet of the Apes were given special honorary awards.[25]

St. Petersburg Times film critic Thomas Sabulis wrote, "The Academy Awards show was a reasonably good television product. The acceptance speeches were thankfully brief and concise."[26] Columnist Janet Maslin of The New York Times remarked, "Thanks largely to the fancifulness of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' voters, Monday night's Oscar presentation was the most exciting in recent years. When the awards show itself is something less than swift or glamorous, which was certainly the case this year, it can still come to life if the voting takes a sufficiently strange turn."[19] St. Petersberg Times critic Thomas Sabulis commented, "The Academy Awards show was a reasonably good television product. The acceptance speeches were thankfully brief and concise. When winners were not present to receive awards, the presenters quickly accepted for them."[27]

Harold Schindler of The Salt Lake Tribune called the ceremony "a three-and-a-half-hour marathon which sparkled in spots, sputtered in others. and featured some of the most uneven casting in the program's history."[28] Austin American-Statesman film critic Patrick Taggart quipped, "Whether or not the awards will be taken more seriously in the future, the ceremony last Monday night certainly had the dreariness one associates with serious events."[29] The Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Desmond Ryan commented that due to many winners being absent from the festivities, "An already dull evening lapsed into long stretches of tedium."[30]

The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 46.2 million people over the length of the entire ceremony, which was a 6% increase from the previous year's ceremony.[31] Moreover, the show drew higher Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 33.6% of households watching with a 53% share.[32]

In August 1982, the ceremony presentation received three nominations at the 34th Primetime Emmys.[33] The following month, it won an award for Ray Klausen's art direction of the program.[34]