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Plenty of inspiration to go around on Oscar night.

Or

Plenty of inspiration to go around on the Oscar night.

Which one is correct? Or both are correct? And why?

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Your first example,

"Plenty of inspiration to go around on Oscar night"

is correct, as the event is televised only one evening a year (at least in the U. S.), and no one would be confused by the lack of an article. The same is true for Christmas Eve, for instance, or Easter Sunday. Note, however, if you invert the prepositional phrase, then the definite article is needed:

"Plenty of inspiration to go around on the night of the Oscars."

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"Oscar night" is not countable, since there is only one "Oscar night" in a year, just as there is only one "new year's day" or one "Christmas eve". So in most situations "on Oscar night" is correct.

However if you are referring to one specific historical event, you do need a definite article - for example "... on the Oscar night when [the film] XYZ won ten awards ..."

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  • But you just counted it. "one" night. Something that is not countable would be "water". You could in theory have multiple Oscar nights, but you can't have "one water" (unless ofc there's some context, where "one glass of..." is implied). Am I wrong?
    – Riki
    Apr 23, 2016 at 8:10

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