James Cameron's "Avatar" received 11 nominations for the eighth annual VES Awards, presented by the Visual Effects Society to recognize outstanding visual effects artistry.
Cameron had been previously announced as the recipient of this year's VES Lifetime Achievement Award. Pixar's Ed Catmull will receive the Georges Melies Award for pioneering.
Nominees in 23 categories of film, animation, TV, commercials and videogames were chosen by blue-ribbon panels of VES members. The awards will be handed out Feb. 28 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.
“It’s important to keep in mind that it wasn’t machines that created these images but incredibly talented artists," said VES chairman Jeffrey Okun in a statement. "We congratulate them all and look forward to seeing who is chosen as the best of the best at the awards show in February.”
"District 9" and "2012" received three nominations apiece, as did animated films "Up" and "Coraline."
The Odds is an informed, bemused, skeptical and authoritative look at all aspects of the Academy Awards race. Steve Pond, author of the L.A. Times bestseller The Big Show, has been covering this particular circus for more than two decades, much of that time as the only reporter with full backstage and rehearsal access to the Oscar show.
