The Academy Award® aka Oscar®

For more than 80 years it has been one of the world's most iconic trophies. Official name: Academy Award® of Merit. Significance of the design: A knight holding a crusader's sword perpendicular to a base of a five spoked film reel which acknowledges the five original branches of the academy; producers, writers, directors, actors and technicians.

Designed by: The chief art director at Metro Goldwyn-Mayer, Cedric Gibbons. Originally sculpted by: George Stanley of Los Angeles. The statuette's Height: 13 and 1/2 inches tall. Weight: 8 and 1/2 pounds. Comprised of britannia metal [a pewter-like alloy], also copper, nickel silver, and finished in 24-karat gold.

First presented in 1929, it has been awarded more than 2800 times. The trophy is mass manufactured by: R. S. Owens & Company in Chicago Illinois.

There are almost as many people claiming credit as there are stories as to how the statuette got the nickname of Oscar. A biography of one time Academy President and Academy award winning actress Bette Davis purports that Ms Davis gave the statue the nickname in honor of her first husband Harmon Oscar Nelson.

Walt Disney who holds the record for Academy Award nominations [59] and wins [22] upon receiving his first Academy Award in 1932, thanked the Academy for his "Oscar".

However the date [1931] makes Academy Librarian Margaret Herrick [who would later become Executive Director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences] seem the most likely to be the true giver of the nickname. Ms Herrick remarked that the statue resembled her cousin Oscar Pierce.

Renowned Hollywood columnist Sidney Sklosky was present at the time when Ms Herrick made the remark and was the first journalist to refer in print to the statue by the name Oscar: "Employees have affectionately dubbed their famous statuette 'Oscar'" The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially nicknamed the statuette Oscar in 1939.

The 84th Academy Awards

Best Cinematography The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Jeff Cronenweth Hugo – Robert Richardson [winner] The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki War Horse – Janusz Kamiński

Best Art Direction The Artist – Laurence Bennett and Robert Gould Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Stuart Craig and Stephanie McMillan Hugo – Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo [winner] Midnight in Paris – Anne Seibel and Hélène Dubreuil War Horse – Rick Carter and Lee Sandales

Best Costume Design Anonymous – Lisy Christl The Artist – Mark Bridges [winner] Hugo – Sandy Powell Jane Eyre – Michael O'Connor W.E. – Arianne Phillips

Best Film Editing The Artist – Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius The Descendants – Kevin Tent The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter [winner] Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker Moneyball – Christopher Tellefsen

Best Supporting Actress Bérénice Bejo – The Artist as Peppy Miller Jessica Chastain – The Help as Celia Foote Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids as Megan Price Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs as Hubert Page Octavia Spencer – The Help as Minny Jackson [winner]

Best Supporting Actor Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn as Laurence Olivier Jonah Hill – Moneyball as Peter Brand Nick Nolte – Warrior as Paddy Conlon Christopher Plummer – Beginners as Hal Fields [winner] Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as The Renter

Best Sound Editing Drive – Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Ren Klyce Hugo – Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty [winner] Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl War Horse – Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Best Sound Mixing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, and Bo Persson Hugo – Tom Fleischman and John Midgley [winner] Moneyball – Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco, and Ed Novick Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Peter J. Devlin War Horse – Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, and Stuart Wilson

Best Documentary Feature Hell and Back Again – Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory – Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky Pina – Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel Undefeated – TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay, and Richard Middlemas [winner]

Best Animated Feature A Cat in Paris – Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli Chico and Rita – Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal Kung Fu Panda 2 – Jennifer Yuh Nelson Puss in Boots – Chris Miller Rango – Gore Verbinski [winner]

Best Visual Effects Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 – Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, and John Richardson Hugo – Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning [winner] Real Steel – Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Danny Gordon Taylor, and Swen Gillberg Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, and Daniel Barrett Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew E. Butler, and John Frazier

Best Original Score The Adventures of Tintin – John Williams The Artist – Ludovic Bource [winner] Hugo – Howard Shore Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Alberto Iglesias War Horse – John Williams

Best Original Song "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie [winner]

"Real in Rio" from Rio – Sérgio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown, and Siedah Garrett

Best Adapted Screenplay The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash from The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings [winners] Hugo – John Logan from The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick The Ides of March – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon from Farragut North by Beau Willimon Moneyball – Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin from Moneyball by Michael Lewis Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

Best Original Screenplay The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius Bridesmaids – Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo Margin Call – J.C. Chandor Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen [winner] A Separation – Asghar Farhadi

Best Live Action Short Film Pentecost – Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane Raju – Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren The Shore – Terry George and Oorlagh George [winner] Time Freak – Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey Tuba Atlantic – Hallvar Witzø

Best Documentary Short Subject The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement – Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin God Is the Bigger Elvis – Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson Incident in New Baghdad – James Spione Saving Face – Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy [winner] The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Best Animated Short Film Dimanche – Patrick Doyon The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore –William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg [winner] La Luna – Enrico Casarosa A Morning Stroll – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe Wild Life – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Best Foreign Language Film Bullhead (Belgium) in Dutch and French – Michaël R. Roskam Footnote (Israel) in Hebrew – Joseph Cedar In Darkness (Poland) in Polish – Agnieszka Holland Monsieur Lazhar (Canada) in French – Philippe Falardeau A Separation (Iran) in Persian – Asghar Farhadi [winner]

Best Director Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist [winner] Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life Alexander Payne – The Descendants Martin Scorsese – Hugo

Best Actor Demián Bichir – A Better Life as Carlos Galindo George Clooney – The Descendants as Matt King Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin [winner] Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as George Smiley Brad Pitt – Moneyball as Billy Beane

Best Actress Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs as Albert Nobbs Viola Davis – The Help as Aibileen Clark Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Lisbeth Salander Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher [winner] Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn as Marilyn Monroe

Best Picture The Artist – Thomas Langmann, Producer [winner] The Descendants – Jim Burke, Jim Taylor, and Alexander Payne, Producers. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Scott Rudin, Producer. The Help – Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, and Michael Barnathan, Producers. Hugo – Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers. Midnight in Paris – Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers. Moneyball – Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, and Brad Pitt, Producers. The Tree of Life – Dede Gardner, Sarah Green, Grant Hill, and Bill Pohlad, Producers. War Horse – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers.