At the Academy Awards, Network won three of the four acting awards. As of 2023, it is the second of only three films which have accomplished this feat, preceded by A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and followed by Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022).
Peter Finch died before the 1977 ceremony and was the only performer to win a posthumous acting Academy Award (until 2009 when Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor). The statuette itself was collected by Finch's widow, Eletha Finch, after Chayefsky invited her onstage.
Beatrice Straight's performance as Louise Schumacher occupied only five minutes and two seconds of screen time, making it the shortest performance to win an Oscar as of 2022 (breaking Gloria Grahame's nine minute and 32 second screen time record for The Bad and the Beautiful in 1953).[42] Additionally, Ned Beatty's performance of Arthur Jensen occupied only six minutes of screen time, also making it the shortest performance by an actor to be nominated for an Oscar as of 2024.[43]
| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Best Picture | Howard Gottfried | Nominated |
| Best Director | Sidney Lumet | Nominated | |
| Best Actor | Peter Finch (posthumous award) | Won | |
| William Holden | Nominated | ||
| Best Actress | Faye Dunaway | Won | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Ned Beatty | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actress | Beatrice Straight | Won | |
| Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen | Paddy Chayefsky | Won | |
| Best Cinematography | Owen Roizman | Nominated | |
| Best Film Editing | Alan Heim | Nominated | |
| American Cinema Editors Awards | Best Edited Feature Film | Nominated | |
| British Academy Film Awards | Best Film | Network | Nominated |
| Best Direction | Sidney Lumet | Nominated | |
| Best Actor in a Leading Role | Peter Finch (posthumous award) | Won | |
| William Holden | Nominated | ||
| Best Actress in a Leading Role | Faye Dunaway | Nominated | |
| Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Robert Duvall | Nominated | |
| Best Screenplay | Paddy Chayefsky | Nominated | |
| Best Editing | Alan Heim | Nominated | |
| Best Sound | Jack Fitzstephens, Marc Laub, Sanford Rackow, James Sabat and Dick Vorisek | Nominated | |
| David di Donatello Awards | Best Foreign Actress | Faye Dunaway | Won[b] |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures | Sidney Lumet | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated | |
| Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Peter Finch (posthumous award) | Won | |
| Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Faye Dunaway | Won | |
| Best Director – Motion Picture | Sidney Lumet | Won | |
| Best Screenplay – Motion Picture | Paddy Chayefsky | Won | |
| Japan Academy Film Prize | Outstanding Foreign Language Film | Nominated | |
| Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actress | Faye Dunaway | Won |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Film | Won[c] | |
| Best Director | Sidney Lumet | Won | |
| Best Screenplay | Paddy Chayefsky | Won | |
| National Board of Review Awards | Top Ten Films | 2nd Place | |
| National Film Preservation Board | National Film Registry | Inducted | |
| National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actor | William Holden | 2nd Place |
| Best Actress | Faye Dunaway | 2nd Place | |
| Best Supporting Actor | Robert Duvall | 3rd Place | |
| Best Screenplay | Paddy Chayefsky | 2nd Place | |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Film | Runner-up | |
| Best Actress | Faye Dunaway | Runner-up | |
| Best Screenplay | Paddy Chayefsky | Won | |
| Online Film & Television Association Awards | Hall of Fame – Motion Picture | Won | |
| Producers Guild of America Awards | PGA Hall of Fame – Motion Pictures | Won | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Science Fiction Film | Nominated | |
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Drama – Written Directly for the Screen | Paddy Chayefsky | Won |
American Film Institute
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – #66
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
- Diana Christensen – Nominated Villain
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
- "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" – #19
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #64
