Courtesy of: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The Academy Awards will air tonight. This year’s event is the 83rd Annual Academy Awards – and will be held on Sunday February 27, 2011.

For avid movie fans, throwing an Oscar party is an annual event. The bigger, the better, go all out Hollywood style!

If you are planning to hold your own award-winning Oscar viewing party at your home, here are some helpful tips from the experts – the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

On the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences site, you can find downloadable Oscar® ballots, party play-along games, recipes, cocktails ideas and much more.

Be sure to invite your family and friends and celebrate the best the movie industry has to offer.

http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/partykit/

Katie Lee provides you with insider tips on how to host an Oscar party that is fun and fabulous!

Now you can impress all your family and friends with Katie Lee’s delicious and easy-to-make-at-home recipes.

As a reminder, here’s a recap of the major award nominations:

Best Picture:
Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, Winter’s Bone

Best Actor in a Leading Role:
Javier Bardem, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, Colin Firth, James Franco

Best Actress in a Leading Role:
Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Portman, Michelle Williams

Best Directing:
Black Swan, The Fighter, The King’s Speech, The Social Network, True Grit

Red Carpet Green Dress

Suzy Amis Cameron is a Hollywood actress and wife of Oscar winning director James Cameron.

If you have ever dreamed of designing your own, stunning dress and having a famous Hollywood celebrity wear it, here’s your chance.

Suzy Amis Cameron is once again providing an opportunity for aspiring fashion designers a win a chance at going to Los Angeles for a Hollywood pre-Oscar party!

Last year, Jillian Granz who was a Michigan State University student, created the winning design for the “Red Carpet Green Dress” contest.

The rules for this year’s design contest is to submit sketches of a dress made of renewable materials. You need to work fast since the deadline is February 2nd.

The contest winner will be chosen by Suzy Amis Cameron and will receive:

– A free trip (with swanky hotel and flights included) for the winner and his/her model

– $2,000 to make the dress and get featured on RedCarpetGreenDress.com website

–  A “red” (actually on green!) carpet walk at an Oscar pre-party in Hollywood on February 23 – as guests of James Cameron and Suzy Amis Cameron

Proceeds from the competition will go to the MUSE schools, which Suzy Amis Cameron founded. The charitable organization helps educate kids around the world.

Another terrific thrill from last year’s winner, was Suzy Amis Cameron actually wore Jillian Granz’s winning dress to the Oscars!

To learn more about the “green” dress design contest, please visit http://redcarpetgreendress.com/rules/

From its initial creation in 1927, one of the first goals of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) was the method to honor achievements in the motion picture industry. A committee of seven members was formed and given the task of creating an Academy Awards presentation.

The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929. It was definitely a low key affair compared to the glamor and glitz that surround the ceremonies of today.

Two hundred and fifty people attended the black-tie banquet that evening in the Blossom Room of Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Emil Jannings, who was the winner for best actor, decided to go back to his home in Germany before the ceremony. But before he departed, Emil Jannings was handed the very first Academy Award.

We all know the focal point is the actual Oscar statuette. Early on, the Academy Awards knew that the success of the Awards was the centered around the actual trophy, so it could be presented at the Awards. MGM art director Cedric Gibbons was tasked with designing the statuette.

The statuette is a simple, stylized golden knight standing on a reel of film and gripping a sword. The award was actually created by sculptor George Stanley.

One question that often arises, is how did the Oscar get its name?

The official name of the statuette is the Academy Award of Merit. The statuette is almost exclusively known as the Oscar.

The exact reason is not known, but the most popular story involves then Academy librarian and future executive director, Margaret Herrick. When Herrick saw the statuette sitting on a table, stated “it looks just like my Uncle Oscar!” The name stuck and that magical golden statuette has been called Oscar ever since.

Over the past 80 plus years, the actual Oscar statuette has undergone relatively few changes. Compared to the 1929 version, they are almost exactly the same. It is 13 ½ inches tall and weighs 8 ½ pounds.

But there have been some very fundamental changes. 15 Oscar statuettes were awarded during the first Academy Awards ceremony on May 16th, 1929. They were made of gold-plated solid bronze and placed upon a pedestal made of Belgian black marble.

In 1945, two minor changes occurred with the pedestal. It was made slightly higher and is currently made of metal, rather than marble. Beginning in 1949, the statues began to be numbered. For whatever reason, the starting number began with 501. The number is written behind Oscar’s heels. An example would be: 2008, 2,698

The record for the most Oscar awards during a career is Walt Disney, who was awarded the statuette 26 times.