The Visual Effects Society announced the winners of the 8th Annual VES Awards tonight at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The annual event recognizes outstanding visual effects in more than twenty categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games.

Filmmakers, producers and guests joined more than a thousand attendees from the visual effects industry for the sold-out gala which honored James Cameron with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award and Dr. Ed Catmull with the Georges Méliès Award for Pioneering.

Avatar was the evening’s big winner taking home six awards including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture. The animated feature film Up was honored with three awards including Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture.

The 2010 VES Awards will premiere on Friday, March 5 at 10pm ET/PT on REELZCHANNEL.

The following is the complete list of winners of the 8th Annual VES Awards:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture
Avatar
Joe Letteri, Joyce Cox, Eileen Moran, Richard Baneham

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
Sherlock Holmes
Jonathan Fawkner, Chas Jarrett, David Vickery, Dan Barrow

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Up
Pete Docter, Jonas Rivera, Steve May, Gary Bruins

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special
Disney Prep and Landing – Gadgets, Globes, and other Garish Gizmos
Dorothy McKim, Scott Kersavage, David Hutchins, Kee Suong

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series
Battlestar Galactica Season 4 -Ep. 421 “Daybreak”
Michael Gibson, Gary Hutzel, Jesse Toves, Dave Morton

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program
CSI Crime Scene Investigation - Ep. 1001 Opening Sequence
Rik Shorten, Sabrina Arnold, Steve Meyer, Derek Smith

Best Single Visual Effect of the Year
Avatar – Neytiri Drinking
Joe Letteri, Joyce Cox, Eileen Moran, Thelvin Cabezas

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
Audi – Intelligently Combined
Jay Barton, Rafael F. Colon, Ronald Herbst, Chris Fieldhouse

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
Dance of the Dragons - Eastern
Derry Frost, Michael Morreale

Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Gulag Extraction
Mark Rubin, Richard Kriegler, Robert Gaines, David Johnson

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Video Game Trailer
Halo 3: ODST – The Life
Robert Moggach, Ryan Meredith, Jens Zalzala, Michael Pardee

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
Avatar - Neytiri
Joe Letteri, Andrew R. Jones, Jeff Unay, Zoe Saldana

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Up – ‘Carl’- No Dad Scene
Ed Asner, Ron Zorman, Brian Tindall, Carmen Ngai

Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial
AMF – The Caterpillar
Robert Sethi, Jamie O’Hara, Becky Porter, Steve Beck

Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Up
Jason Johnston, Alexis Angelidis, Jon Reisch, Eric Froemling

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture
Avatar – Pandora
Yvonne Muinde, Brenton Cottman, Peter Baustaedter, Jean-Luc Azzis