The problem is that everyone who voted was voting based on the trilogy. However, every single nomination was for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". None of them were for The Trilogy. Warbler says it best a couple of posts before this one.
If you want to honor the man for the work he did on the trilogy as a whole, then create a special Oscar for him like they did in 1977/78 for Lucas and Star Wars since nothing appropriate existed back then. Star Wars did not deserve Best Picture over, I believe the winner was Annie Hall. Thankfully, it did not win because it was not the best picture of the year. But it did deserve recognition for what it accomplished in terms of moviemaking. So they did the right thing and created an Oscar for it. They should have done this for LOTR as well.
I agree with you Gundark. So does my wife. We were fuming. The awards show was a joke. If I hear another reference to "the people of New Zealand", I'm going to vomit. And not a single upset in any major category. Where was this year's Adrien Brody? I was sincerely hoping for Diane Keaton or Keisha Castle Hughes to upset Charlize Theron.