A total of five films received Academy Award nominations for outstanding achievement in Visual Effects in 2011.http://oscar.go.com/nominations#category_visual-effects  Typically there are only three nominations for this category, but last year the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences decided to expand the field to five nominees.http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118021517?refcatid=4076 The Academy has two criterion it looks at when deciding on nominations: the "contribution the visual effects make to the overall production" and the "artistry, skill and fidelity with which visual illusions are achieved." In order to be considered for a Best Visual Effects Academy Award, excerpt reels containing no more than 15 minutes of total footage must be submitted to the Academy.http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/rules/rule22.html   

The films nominated for 2011 Best Visual Effects Oscars are Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Hereafter, Inception, and Iron Man 2.

Ken Ralston of Alice in Wonderland has been nominated a total of eight times for a Best Visual Effects Oscar. Ralston has won the award five times, most recently for 1994's Forrest Gump.  These are the first-ever Oscar nominations for Ralston's colleagues David Schaub, Carey Villegas, and Sean Phillips.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/visual-effects/history/alice-in-wonderland/688691 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1's Tim Burke has been nominated a total of three times, including a nod for his work on another Harry Potter film: The Prisoner of Azkaban.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/visual-effects/history/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-1/688701   Burke won the Best Visual Effects Oscar for 2000's Gladiator. John Richardson has received five Oscar nominations; he won in 1986 for Aliens. Burke and Richardson's Deathly Hallows colleagues, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi, are first-time Academy Award nominees.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/visual-effects/history/harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-1/688701 

Hereafter's Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky, and Joe Farrell all received their first-ever Academy Award nominations in 2011.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/visual-effects/history/hereafter/688702 

Paul Franklin and Chris Corbould each received their second Oscar nominations for Inception.  Both were previously nominated for another Christopher Nolan film, 2008's The Dark Knight.  Franklin and Corbould's colleagues, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb, were first-time nominees in 2011.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/visual-effects/history/inception/688703 

Iron Man 2's Janek Sirrs has received two Best Visual Effects Academy Award nominations.  Sirrs won for 1999's The Matrix. Ben Snow's and Daniel Sudick's work has garnered them four Oscar nominations each, including for their work on 2008's Iron Man. Ged Wright is a first-time Oscar nominee.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/visual-effects/history/iron-man-2/688704