By Gina Gomez
Feb 2, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The Hollywood fraternity was eagerly awaiting the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards which were announced on Tuesday. The nominations for the Oscar awards this year was announced by Academy President Tom Sherak and actress Anne Hathaway, who addressed the media at Beverly Hills’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater today.

As many as ten movies have received nominations in the Best Picture category which include “Avatar”, “The Blind Side”, “District 9″, “An Education”, “The Hurt Locker”, “Inglourious Basterds”, “A Serious Man”, “Up”, “Up in the Air”and “Precious:Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”.

The actors who have been nominated for the Best Actor honor include George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker). The nominations for the Best Actress award includes Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education). Apart from these, the nominations in the rest of the categories have also been declared.

The announcement of the Oscar nominations is followed by widespread campaigning by the studios with the aim of accentuating the chances of their films in winning the much coveted award.

The Oscar Awards which is given out every year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is considered to be the highest recognition bestowed on film industry professionals for the excellent work showcased by them in the past year. This year the gala event would be held on March 7 at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. It has been announced that the 82nd Academy Awards would be hosted by actors Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.