Nominees for the 80th Annual Academy Awards have been announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Golden Compass has earned two nominations in technical categories: Best Art Direction (Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock) and Best Visual Effects (Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood). You can view the entire list of nominations here.

Oscar ceremony scheduled for Feb. 24 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. However, there are still fears that the on-going writers’ strike could cause the ceremony to be cancelled, with awards announced in similar fashion to the recent Golden Globes.

Alexandre Desplat has also been nominated for two awards for the film’s soundtrack by the International Film Music Critics Association. The score is up for awards in the categories of Best Score of 2007 and Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction Film. Desplat also has five other nominations, including Film Composer of The Year (a full list of the nominations can be viewed here). The winners will be announced on Friday, February 15.