Guide to Oscar: Best Visual Effects

The award for Best Visual Effects honors the most outstanding special effects team of any given year. The award was given for the first time at the first ceremony in 1928 and then wasn't awarded again until 1938. The number of nominees can vary from year to year, depending on the number of films eligible to be nominated.

This year's nominees:

Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, John Richardson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

4th nomination for Burke. Previously won for Gladiator and nominated for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

First nomination for Vickery and Butler.

6th nomination for Richardson. Previously won for Aliens and nominated for Cliffhanger, Starship Troopers, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkahab and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

Robert Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, Alex Henning, Hugo

3rd nomination for Legato. Previously won for Titanic and nominated for Apollo 13.

First nomination for Williams, Grossmann and Henning.

Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Danny Gordon Taylor, Swen Gillberg, Real Steel

2nd nomination for Nash. Previously nominated for I, Robot.

First nomination for Rosengrant, Taylor and Gillberg.

Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Daniel Barrett, Rise of the Planet of the Apes

6th nomination for Letteri. Previously won for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, King Kong and Avatar, and nominated for I, Robot.

First nomination for Lemmon, White and Barrett.

Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew E. Butler, John Frazier, Transformers: Dark of the Moon

6th nomination for Farrar. Previously won for Cocoon and nominated for Transformers, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Backdraft.

2nd nomination for Benza. Previously nominated for Transformers.

First nomination for Butler.

10th nomination for Frazier. Previously nominated for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Transformers, Poseidon, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man, Pearl Harbor, The Perfect Storm, Armageddon and Twister.