This morning the now ten nominations for “Best Picture” for the 2010 Academy Awards were announced as as expected, there are plenty of ties to the LOTR community.

“Avatar” with powerful ties to Weta Digital and “District 9,” produced by Peter Jackson and with conceptual design (not an Academy category) also from Weta, are competing in the “Best Picture” category. The two films are also nominated in “Best Visual Effects,” and “Best Editing.” Each film received other nominations as well. See inside for a full list of all nominations and talk about it in our forums.

BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

BEST DIRECTOR
James Cameron – Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels – Precious
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
George Clooney – Up in the Air
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Muligan – An Education
Gaborey Sibide – Precious
Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Mo’Nique – Precious

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Marc Boal – The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Aessandro Camon and Oren Moverman – The Messenger
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen – A Serious Man
Up

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
District 9
Nick Hornby — An Education
In the Loop
Jeffrey Fletcher – Precious
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline — Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr Fox — Wes Anderson
The Princess
The Secret of Kells
Up

BEST ART DIRECTION
Avatar: Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
Nine: Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
Sherlock Holmes: Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Young Victoria: Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar: Mauro Fiore
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Bruno Delbonnel
The Hurt Locker: Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds: Robert Richardson
The White Ribbon: Christian Berger

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star — Janet Patterson
Coco before Chanel — Catherine Leterrier
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus — Monique Prudhomme
Nine – Colleen Atwood
The Young Victoria

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

BEST EDITING
Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
District 9″ Julian Clarke
The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Ajami
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon

BEST MAKEUP
“Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
“Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
“The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Avatar” James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
“Up” Michael Giacchino

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36″ Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
“Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

BEST SOUND
“Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
“Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
“Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
“Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

BEST SOUND EFFECTS EDITING
“Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
“Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
“District 9″ Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton