Oscar Nominations

The Academy Awards are presented every year to outstanding films as selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/index.html The nominations are determined by members' votes for the best achievements in various aspects of filmmaking from the previous year. The awards presented to the winners are informally referred to as "Oscars."http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/index.html

In 2010, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced that there would be 10 nominations in the Best Picture Category, rather than the standard five, in hopes of widening the category to include not just the art house and independent films favored by the Academy, but also the "popcorn fare" beloved by mainstream audiences.http://theweek.com/article/index/105829/10_reasons_why_10_Best_Picture_nominations_is_a_bad_idea

Oscar Nominations Background

The first Academy Awards ceremony took place on May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/history.html Winners had been announced several months prior and attendance cost 5 dollars.http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/history.html 15 statues were awarded at that first ceremony.http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/history.html After that year, event organizers began keeping the list of winners secret until the night of the ceremony, although they did provide a list to press for publication in the late night editions of newspapers. Even this stopped in 1940, however, when the Los Angeles Times published the winners' names in its evening edition, which hit newsstands while guests were still arriving at the Awards.http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/about/history.html

Campaigns for Oscar nominations generally begin each November, with production companies, agents, and other publicists taking out ads in trade publications such as Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, as well as holding multiple free screenings for the more than 6,000 members of the Academy.http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/business/media/18oscar.html?_r=1 Nomination ballots are sent out in December and returned in January, to be swiftly followed by the announcement of the nominees towards the beginning of the year.http://omg.yahoo.com/news/and-they-re-off-oscar-nomination-ballots-mailed-to-academy-voters/53089

2011 Nominations

The 2011 Oscar nominations were announced on January 25, 2011. The host for the nomination ceremony was 2009 Academy Award winner Mo’Nique, who was accompanied by the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Tom Sherak.

The film which clinched the most Academy Award nominations was The King’s Speech, which received 12 Academy Award nominations, including a Best Picture nomination and a Best Actor nod for Colin Firth.