The 1951 Academy Awards were presented March 20, 1952 at the RKO Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, Calif.
| Best Motion Picture | An American in Paris, Arthur Freed, producer (MGM) |
| Decision Before Dawn, Anatole Litvak and Frank McCarthy, producers (Twentieth Century-Fox) |
| A Place in the Sun, George Stevens, producer (Paramount) |
| Quo Vadis, Sam Zimbalist, producer (MGM) |
| A Streetcar Named Desire, Charles K. Feldman, producer (Warner Bros.) |
| Best Actor | Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen |
| Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire |
| Montgomery Clift, A Place in the Sun |
| Arthur Kennedy, Bright Victory |
| Fredric March, Death of a Salesman |
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 Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen Archive Photos |
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| Best Actress | Katharine Hepburn, The African Queen |
| Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire |
| Eleanor Parker, Detective Story |
| Shelley Winters, A Place in the Sun |
| Jane Wyman, The Blue Veil |
| Actor in a Supporting Role | Leo Genn, Quo Vadis |
| Karl Malden, A Streetcar Named Desire |
| Kevin McCarthy, Death of a Salesman |
| Peter Ustinov, Quo Vadis |
| Gig Young, Come Fill the Cup |
| Actress in a Supporting Role | Joan Blondell, The Blue Veil |
| Mildred Dunnock, Death of a Salesman |
| Lee Grant, Detective Story |
| Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Named Desire |
| Thelma Ritter, The Mating Season |
| Directing | John Huston, The African Queen |
| Elia Kazan, A Streetcar Named Desire |
| Vincente Minnelli, An American in Paris |
| George Stevens, A Place in the Sun |
| William Wyler, Detective Story |
| Writing | | Motion Picture Story | Budd Boetticher and Ray Nazarro, Bullfighter and the Lady | | Paul Dehn and James Bernard, Seven Days to Noon | | Alfred Hayes and Stewart Stern, Teresa | | Oscar Millard, The Frogmen | | Robert Riskin and Liam O'Brian, Here Comes the Groom | | Screenplay | James Agee and John Huston, The African Queen | | Jacques Natanson and Max Ophuls, La Ronde | | Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire | | Michael Wilson and Harry Brown, A Place in the Sun | | Philip Yordan and Robert Wyler, Detective Story | | Story and Screenplay | Philip Dunne, David and Bathsheba | | Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse, The Well | | Alan Jay Lerner, An American in Paris | | Robert Pirosh, Go for Broke! | | Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman, The Big Carnival |
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| Cinematography | | Black-and-White | Norbert Brodine, The Frogmen | | Robert Burks, Strangers on a Train | | William C. Mellor, A Place in the Sun | | Frank Planer, Death of a Salesman | | Harry Stradling, A Streetcar Named Desire | | Color | Alfred Gilks and John Alton, An American in Paris | | Charles Rosher, Show Boat | | John F. Seitz and W. Howard Greene, When Worlds Collide | | Leon Shamroy, David and Bathsheba | | Robert Surtees and William V. Skall, Quo Vadis |
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| Art Direction | | Black-and-White | Richard Day, art direction; George James Hopkins, set decoration, A Streetcar Named Desire | | D'Eaubonne, art direction and set decoration, La Ronde | | Cedric Gibbons and Paul Groesse, art direction; Edwin B. Willis and Jack D. Moore, set decoration, Too Young to Kiss | | Lyle Wheeler and John DeCuir, art direction; Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox, set decoration, House on Telegraph Hill | | Lyle Wheeler and Leland Fuller, art direction; Thomas Little and Fred J. Rode, set decoration, Fourteen Hours | | Color | Cedric Gibbons and Preston Ames, art direction; Edwin B. Willis and Keogh Gleason, set decoration, An American in Paris | | Hein Heckroth, art direction and set decoration, Tales of Hoffmann | | William A. Horning, Cedric Gibbons and Edward Carfagno, art direction; Hugh Hunt, set decoration, Quo Vadis | | Lyle Wheeler and George Davis, art direction; Thomas Little and Paul S. Fox, set decoration, David and Bathsheba | | Lyle Wheeler and Leland Fuller, art direction; Joseph C. Wright, musical settings; Thomas Little and Walter M. Scott, set decoration, On the Riviera |
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| Sound Recording | MGM Studio Sound Dept., The Great Caruso |
| RKO Radio Studio Sound Dept., Two Tickets to Broadway |
| Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Dept., I Want You |
| Universal-International Studio Sound Dept., Bright Victory |
| Warner Bros. Studio Sound Dept., A Streetcar Named Desire |
| Music | | Song | “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening,” Here Comes the Groom, Hoagy Carmichael, music; Johnny Mercer, lyrics | | “A Kiss to Build a Dream On,” The Strip, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Oscar Hammerstein II, music and lyrics | | “Never,” Golden Girl, Lionel Newman, music; Eliot Daniel, lyrics | | “Too Late Now,” Royal Wedding, Burton Lane, music; Alan Jay Lerner, lyrics | | “Wonder Why,” Rich, Young and Pretty, Nicholas Brodszky, music; Sammy Cahn, lyrics | | Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture | Alfred Newman, David and Bathsheba | | Alex North, Death of a Salesman | | Alex North, A Streetcar Named Desire | | Miklos Rozsa, Quo Vadis | | Franz Waxman, A Place in the Sun | | Scoring of a Musical Picture | Peter Herman Adler and Johnny Green, The Great Caruso | | Adolph Deutsch and Conrad Salinger, Show Boat | | Johnny Green and Saul Chaplin, An American in Paris | | Alfred Newman, On the Riviera | | Oliver Wallace, Alice in Wonderland |
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| Film Editing | Adrienne Fazan, An American in Paris |
| William Hornbeck, A Place in the Sun |
| Chester Schaeffer, The Well |
| Dorothy Spencer, Decision Before Dawn |
| Ralph E. Winters, Quo Vadis |
| Costume Design | | Black-and-White | Lucinda Ballard, A Streetcar Named Desire | | Edith Head, A Place in the Sun | | Charles LeMaire and Renie, The Model and the Marriage Broker | | Walter Plunkett and Gile Steele, Kind Lady | | Edward Stevenson and Margaret Furse, The Mudlark | | Color | Hein Heckroth, Tales of Hoffmann | | Charles LeMaire and Edward Stevenson, David and Bathsheba | | Herschel McCoy, Quo Vadis | | Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett and Irene Sharaff, An American in Paris | | Helen Rose and Gile Steele, The Great Caruso |
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| Special Effects | When Worlds Collide (Paramount) |
| Short Subjects | | Cartoon | Lambert, the Sheepish Lion (Walt Disney Productions; RKO Radio) | | Rooty Toot Toot (Jolly Frolics Series) (United Productions of America; Columbia) | | Two Mouseketeers (Tom and Jerry Series) (Frederick Quimby, producer; MGM) | | One-Reel | Ridin' the Rails (Grantland Rice Spotlight Series) (Jack Eaton, producer; Paramount) | | The Story of Time (Signal Films Production; Cornell Film Company) | | World of Kids (Vitaphone Novelties Series) (Robert Youngson, producer; Warner Bros.) | | Two-Reel | Balzac (Les Films du Compass; A.F. Films, Inc.) | | Danger Under the Sea (Tom Mead, producer; Universal-International) | | Nature's Half Acre (True-Life Adventure Series) (Walt Disney Productions; RKO Radio) |
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| Documentary | | Short Subject | Benjy (Fred Zinnemann, producer; Paramount) | | One Who Came Back (U.S. Department of Defense; Association of Motion Picture Producers) | | The Seeing Eye (Gordon Hollingshead, producer; Warner Bros.) | | Feature | I Was a Communist for the F.B.I. (Bryan Foy, producer; Warner Bros.) | | Kon-Tiki (Artfilm Production; RKO Radio) |
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| Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award | Arthur Freed |
| Honorary Awards | To Gene Kelly in appreciation of his versatility as an actor, singer, director and dancer, and specifically for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film |
| To Rashomon (Japan) voted by the Board of Governors as the most outstanding foreign language film released in the United States during 1951 |
