How to Run an Oscar Pool with Automatic Scoring and a Live Leaderboard

An Oscar pool turns a three-and-a-half-hour awards show into something everyone's invested in. The problem is usually the scoring: collecting ballots, tallying points, and figuring out who actually won — all while trying to watch the show.

This guide shows you how to automate the whole thing using free Google tools plus Leaderboarded for the live scoreboard. Once it's set up, scores update automatically throughout the night. No manual counting, no arguments, no missed categories.

What You Need

• A Google account (free)
• Google Forms and Google Sheets (both free, part of Google Workspace)
• A Leaderboarded account (free tier works)

Step 1: Create the Google Form for Predictions

Start with a new Google Form in Google Drive. This is where your guests submit their picks before the show starts.

Organize by category with point values

Not all Oscars are created equal. Structure your form to assign different point values based on difficulty:

• Best Picture — worth more points, since it's the most competitive and hardest to predict
• Major acting categories (Best Actor, Best Actress, Supporting) — medium value
• Technical categories (Sound, Editing, Cinematography) — lower point value, since fewer people follow these closely

Add the point value in the question title so participants know what's at stake — for example: "Best Picture (3 points)."

Add nominee images

This makes the form more fun and easier to use, especially for guests who don't follow film closely. In each question, you can add images to individual answer options. Search Google Images for official promotional stills, copy the image URL, and paste it directly into Forms.

Add a deadline

Set the form to stop accepting responses at a specific time — typically when the broadcast begins. In Forms, go to Settings → Responses → Accept responses and toggle off at your chosen time. This prevents anyone from updating their picks after the first envelope is opened.

Optional: Custom styling

If you want to go beyond the default Forms appearance, tools like Pretty Form Designer let you add custom fonts and colors. Not essential, but a nice touch for a fancy party.

Step 2: Set Up Google Sheets for Automatic Scoring

Google Forms links automatically to a Google Sheet where responses are collected. You'll build the scoring logic on top of that.

Create a nominees worksheet

Add a second worksheet (tab) called "Nominees" or "Winners." This is where you'll mark the actual Oscar winners as the ceremony progresses.

Set it up with two columns:

For the technical categories, add checkboxes in the Winner column instead of text — it makes it faster to update during the show.

Spelling is critical. The scoring formula compares the winner names in this sheet against the text responses in the form. If the spelling doesn't match exactly, correct answers won't score. Copy nominee names from a reliable source (the Academy's official website works) and use those exact strings in both your Form answer options and this sheet.

Add the scoring formula

In the responses sheet, add a Score column. The formula needs to:

1. Filter each participant's row by their submission timestamp (to handle multiple submissions correctly — only the earliest counts)
2. Look up each category answer against the winner in your nominees sheet
3. Multiply correct answers by the point value for that category
4. Sum the total

A simple version for a single category looks like this:

=IF(C2=Nominees!B2, 3, 0)

For the full scoring column (summing across all categories), you'd extend this with SUMIF or a series of IF statements — one per category — added together. The point values you assign in Step 1 go into these multipliers.

If you only want the first submission from each participant (to prevent people from resubmitting after categories are announced), use a MINIFS formula to identify the earliest timestamp per email address, then only score those rows.

Create a summary sheet

Add a third worksheet with one row per participant showing their name and total score. This is what you'll publish to Leaderboarded. Keep it to two columns: Name and Score.

Step 3: Publish to Leaderboarded

This is the part that turns a spreadsheet into something you can put on a TV screen.

Publish the summary sheet as CSV

In Google Sheets:

1. Go to File → Share → Publish to web
2. Select your summary sheet (not the whole document)
3. Choose Comma-separated values (.csv) as the format
4. Click Publish and copy the URL

Import into Leaderboarded

1. Create a new board on Leaderboarded
2. Go to Import → CSV URL
3. Paste the URL from the previous step
4. Map the columns: Name → participant name, Score → score

The leaderboard will now reflect whatever's in your summary sheet. As you mark winners during the ceremony, the scores in Sheets update, and your leaderboard updates when you trigger a sync.

Share the link

You'll get a public URL for your leaderboard. A few ways to share it:

• QR code: Leaderboarded generates one automatically. Print it out or display it at your party so guests can check standings on their phones
• TV display: Open the leaderboard URL in a browser and put it on a screen for the room to see
• Group chat: Drop the link in your party's WhatsApp or group text before the show starts

You can also customize the leaderboard's appearance — colors, themes, column labels — to match the occasion.

Tips for a Smooth Oscar Pool

• Test before the show: Submit a few test responses and verify that scores calculate correctly before guests arrive
• Lock the nominees sheet: Use Data → Protect sheets and ranges to prevent accidental edits to the winners column during the show
• One person updates: Designate someone to mark winners in the nominees sheet as categories are announced. It only takes a few seconds per category
• Tiebreaker question: Add a bonus question to the form (number of films in a category, runtime of Best Picture, etc.) so you have a tiebreaker ready if needed

The Result

By the time the Best Picture envelope is opened, everyone in the room has a stake in the outcome. The leaderboard updates throughout the night, scores change as upsets happen, and you find out who won the pool the same moment you find out who won the award.

The setup takes an hour or two before the ceremony. The payoff is three-plus hours of everyone actually paying attention to the show.

Create your Oscar pool leaderboard on Leaderboarded →