Velvet, the home of the biggest night in Hollywood, proudly brings back the complete live coverage of the 82nd Academy Awards on March 8 starting at 6:30am for the red carpet and pre-show with the main show at 9am. It will also be aired live on ABS-CBN 2 at 9:30am.

One of the world’s most watched and highly anticipated TV specials, the Academy Awards – more popularly known as the Oscars – is an annual event presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor and recognize various professionals in the film industry, including writers, directors and actors who exemplify excellence in their field. The oldest award ceremony in media and one of the most prominent and respected award giving bodies, this year’s Oscars will be hosted by award winning funnymen Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

This year’s Oscars features 24 categories and showcases an unusual number of 10 nominees in the Best Picture category. The highly acclaimed epic motion picture “Avatar” and the American war thriller “The Hurt Locker” have the most nominations, both totaling a whopping nine nominations each. “Inglorious Basterds” follows with eight nominations, including Original Screenplay and Achievement in Cinematography. The three films are all vying for the coveted Best Motion Picture of the Year, alongside “The Blind Side,” “District 9,” “An Education,” “Precious: based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” “A Serious Man,” “Up” and “Up in the air.”

Plus, Oscar is putting on a youthful face, recruiting teen superstars Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart to serve as presenters on this year’s kudocast. This will mark the second time Cyrus and Efron have served as Oscar presenters, and the first time out for “Twilight” stars Lautner and Stewart.

To kick off the Oscars fever, Velvet mounts an on-ground campaign, The Oscars Tribute Exhibit 2010. This photo exhibit, which made its debut last year, showcases memorable scenes from Oscar-winning movies, as interpreted by powerhouse teams made of actors, models, celebrities, stylists, makeup artists and photographers. This year, the theme is Most Memorable Couples and Dynamic Duos. The Oscars Tribute Exhibit will have its grand opening on March 4 (Thursday), 6:30pm at the Ayala Museum, Makati and will be open for public viewing on Greenbelt 3 and Eastwood Mall.

The countdown to the biggest night in Hollywood begins! Don’t miss the complete coverage of the 82nd Academy Awards on Velvet on March 8 (starting at 6:30am), with the primetime telecast on the same day at 7pm and an encore telecast on March 13 (Saturday) at 7pm.The Oscars will also be shown live via satellite on ABS-CBN on March 8 at 9:30am with a replay on March 14 on Sunday’s Best and a primetime replay on Studio 23 on March 9 (Tuesday) at 7pm.