An Academy Award is an honor which is handed out annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Since 1929, AMPAS has been awarding and honoring film industry professionals in a televised ceremony that is viewed in more than 200 countries across the globe.
An Oscar is, simply, another term, interchangeable, for an Academy Award. There is no difference, they are one and the same. When the Academy Awards are handed out, the winner receives a statuette which is also referred to as an Oscar.
There is some disagreement about where the name "Oscar" and its application to the Academy Awards originates. The most common story behind the naming of Oscar are as follows:
In 1931, AMPAS executive secretary Margaret Herrick mentioned a similarity between the statuette to her cousin, Oscar Pierce. A celebrity columnist of that era, Sidney Skolsky, heard this and referred to "Uncle Oscar" statuettes going out to the winners that year. As the story goes, Skolsky's widely read column helped secure the nickname. By the mid-1930s the moniker "Oscar" was being widely used and the term has stuck ever since.
The Academy Awards are the most popular cinematic awards ceremony in the world. It has been televised since 1953 and is reported to by viewed by close to 50 million Americans each year.