The nomination process of the 83rd Academy Awards kicked off on Monday as ballots were mailed to 5,755 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Completed ballots must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5 p.m. PT on Jan. 14, 2011, according to the Academy regulations. Nomination and final Awards ballots will be tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The ballots are numbered to guarantee that each one is addressed to the appropriate Academy voter.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers staff administers a thorough verification process, making sure that there are no duplicate ballots and that none are missing before they begin to send the ballots.

The 83rd Academy Awards nominations will be announced Jan. 25 and the award event will be held Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in downtown Los Angeles. The Oscar presentation will also be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.