Academy Awards 2015 nominations announced

The Academy Awards are Hollywood’s biggest celebration of the year – and the Daily News has you covered!

For those seeking to know the ins and outs of all things Oscar, below is a quick guide to everything you need to know about the awards show.

When were the nominations announced?

And for the first time in Academy Award history, the nominees in all 24 categories were televised lived. Cuaron and Abrams presented the first 11 categories, and eight minutes later Pine and Academy President Cheryl Boone presented the 13 other categories, including Best Picture.

When and where are the awards?

The 87th annual Academy Awards will air live Feb. 22 at 7 p.m.on ABC, and will take place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, Calif.

Who is hosting?

Host extraordinaire Neil Patrick Harris will emcee the Oscars for the first time in his career. The star announced that he had scored the gig by tweeting a video of himself checking it off his bucket list. The 41-year-old is just a Grammy telecast away from completing a hosting EGOT, having already hosted the Tony Awards four times and the Emmy Awards twice.

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Neil Patrick Harris will make his debut as Oscars host on Feb. 22.

was founded in 1927 as an organization to benefit the film industry. Two years later, the group held its first-ever Academy Awards.

The Academy, which currently boasts more than 6, 000 members, is made up of 17 branches, ranging from actors to film editors to visual effects and costume designers (the full list is here). The most recent addition is a branch for casting directors, which was added in 2013.

Membership in the Academy is limited to only those working in the film industry. Invitations are extended by sponsorship, in which two Academy members sponsor a candidate who seeks admission.

Another way to get in? Get nominated. All Oscar nominees are automatically granted an invitation to join the Academy.

Mark Davis/WireImage

The Oscars are voted on by the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

, nomination ballots are sent to the Academy’s active membership in late December. Each branch votes to determine the nominees in its own category. For example, actors nominate actors, directors nominate directors, etc.

The voting process differs in three key categories: animated feature film and foreign language film, which are voted on by “multi-branch screening committees, ” and best picture, which is voted on all by all members.

After members submit their nominees to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, the nominees are announced in a live press conference airing Thursday. Final ballots are then sent to voting members, which must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers for final tabulation by Feb. 17.