MUMBAI: As many as 63 songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures are contending for nominations in the original song category at the 82nd Academy Awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said it plans to screen clips featuring each song, in random order, for voting members of its Music Branch in Los Angeles on 12 January.

Following the screenings, members will determine the nominees by an averaged point-system vote. If no song receives an average score of 8.25 or more, there will be no nominees in the category.

If only one song achieves that score, it and the song receiving the next highest score will be the two nominees. If two or more songs -- up to five -- achieve that score, they will be nominees. A maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film.

The list, released by the academy, includes both the expected numbers, like Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett's "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart," Leona Lewis' "I See You" from "Avatar" and Paul McCartney's "(I Want to) Come Home" from "Everybody's Fine," The Word Is Love" from "Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!!" apart from several others. Also in the mix is "Butterfly Fly Away," the Miley Cyrus tune from "Hannah Montana the Movie," which was originally considered ineligible for the Oscars because it was written specifically for the film.

To be eligible, a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits.

The Awards nominations are to be announced Feb. 2 in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles and the ceremony will be aired on 7 march.