The 1980 Academy Awards were presented March 31, 1981 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles.
| Best Picture | Coal Miner's Daughter, Bernard Schwartz, producer (Universal) |
| The Elephant Man, Jonathan Sanger, producer (Paramount) |
| Ordinary People, Ronald L. Schwary, producer (Paramount) |
| Raging Bull, Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, producers (United Artists) |
| Tess, Claude Berri, producer; Timothy Burrill, co-producer (Columbia) |
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 Ordinary People Archive Photos |
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| Actor in a Leading Role | Robert De Niro, Raging Bull |
| Robert Duvall, The Great Santini |
| John Hurt, The Elephant Man |
| Jack Lemmon, Tribute |
| Peter O'Toole, The Stunt Man |
| Actress in a Leading Role | Ellen Burstyn, Resurrection |
| Goldie Hawn, Private Benjamin |
| Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People |
| Gena Rowlands, Gloria |
| Sissy Spacek, Coal Miner's Daughter |
| Actor in a Supporting Role | Judd Hirsch, Ordinary People |
| Timothy Hutton, Ordinary People |
| Michael O'Keefe, The Great Santini |
| Joe Pesci, Raging Bull |
| Jason Robards, Melvin and Howard |
| Actress in a Supporting Role | Eileen Brennan, Private Benjamin |
| Eva Le Gallienne, Resurrection |
| Cathy Moriarty, Raging Bull |
| Diana Scarwid, Inside Moves |
| Mary Steenburgen, Melvin and Howard |
| Directing | David Lynch, The Elephant Man |
| Roman Polanski, Tess |
| Robert Redford, Ordinary People |
| Richard Rush, The Stunt Man |
| Martin Scorsese, Raging Bull |
| Writing | | Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen | Bo Goldman, Melvin and Howard | | Christopher Gore, Fame | | Jean Gruault, Mon Oncle D'Amerique | | Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer and Harvey Miller, Private Benjamin | | W. D. Richter, screenplay; W. D. Richter and Arthur Ross, story, Brubaker | | Screenplay Based on Material From Another Medium | Christopher DeVore, Eric Bergren and David Lynch, The Elephant Man | | Jonathan Hardy, David Stevens and Bruce Beresford, Breaker Morant | | Lawrence B. Marcus and Richard Rush, The Stunt Man | | Tom Rickman, Coal Miner's Daughter | | Alvin Sargent, Ordinary People |
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| Cinematography | Nestor Almendros, The Blue Lagoon |
| Ralf D. Bode, Coal Miner's Daughter |
| Michael Chapman, Raging Bull |
| James Crabe, The Formula |
| Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislain Cloquet, Tess |
| Art Direction | John W. Corso, art direction; John M. Dwyer, set decoration, Coal Miner's Daughter |
| Stuart Craig and Bob Cartwright, art direction; Hugh Scaife, set decoration, The Elephant Man |
| Pierre Guffroy and Jack Stephens, art direction, Tess |
| Yoshiro Muraki, art direction, Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior) |
| Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley, Harry Lange and Alan Tomkins, art direction; Michael Ford, set decoration, The Empire Strikes Back |
| Sound | Michael J. Kohut, Aaron Rochin, Jay M. Harding and Chris Newman, Fame |
| Donald O. Mitchell, Bill Nicholson, David J. Kimball and Les Lazarowitz, Raging Bull |
| Arthur Piantadosi, Les Fresholtz, Michael Minkler and Willie D. Burton, Altered States |
| Richard Portman, Roger Heman and Jim Alexander, Coal Miner's Daughter |
| Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker and Peter Sutton, The Empire Strikes Back |
| Music | | Original Song | “Fame,” Fame, Michael Gore, music; Dean Pitchford, lyrics | | “Nine to Five,” Nine to Five, Dolly Parton, music and lyrics | | “On the Road Again,” Honeysuckle Rose, Willie Nelson, music and lyrics | | “Out Here on My Own,” Fame, Michael Gore, music; Lesley Gore, lyrics | | “People Alone,” The Competition, Lalo Schifrin, music; Wilbur Jennings, lyrics | | Original Score | John Corigliano, Altered States | | Michael Gore, Fame | | John Morris, The Elephant Man | | Philippe Sarde, Tess | | John Williams, The Empire Strikes Back |
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| Film Editing | David Blewitt, The Competition |
| Anne V. Coates, The Elephant Man |
| Gerry Hambling, Fame |
| Arthur Schmidt, Coal Miner's Daughter |
| Thelma Schoonmaker, Raging Bull |
| Costume Design | Jean-Pierre Dorleac, Somewhere in Time |
| Patricia Norris, The Elephant Man |
| Anthony Powell, Tess |
| Anna Senior, My Brilliant Career |
| Paul Zastupnevich, When Time Ran Out |
| Short Films | | Animated | All Nothing (Frédéric Back, producer; Société Radio Canada) | | The Fly (Ferenc Rofusz, producer; Pannonia Film) | | History of the World in Three Minutes Flat (Michael Mills, producer; Michael Mills Productions Ltd.) | | Dramatic Live Action | The Dollar Bottom (Rocking Horse Films, Ltd.; Paramount) | | Fall Line (Bob Carmichael and Greg Lowe, producers; Sports Imagery, Inc.) | | A Jury of Her Peers (Sally Heckel, producer; Sally Heckel Productions) |
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| Documentary | | Short Subject | Don't Mess With Bill (John Watson and Pen Densham, producers; John Watson and Pen Densham's Insight Productions Inc.) | | The Eruption of Mount St. Helens (George Casey, producer; Graphic Films Corporation) | | It's the Same World (Dick Young, producer; Dick Young Productions, Ltd.) | | Karl Hess: Toward Liberty (Roland Hallé and Peter W. Ladue, producers; Hallé/Ladue, Inc.) | | Luther Metke at 94, U.C.L.A. (Richard Hawkins and Jorge Preloran, producers; U.C.L.A. Ethnographic Film Program) | | Feature | Agee (Ross Spears, producer; James Agee Film Project) | | The Day After Trinity (Jon Else, producer; Jon Else Productions) | | From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China (Murray Lerner, producer; The Hopewell Foundation) | | Front Line (David Bradbury, producer; David Bradbury Productions) | | The Yellow Star—The Persecution of the Jews in Europe, 1933—45 (Bengt von zur Muehlen and Arthur Cohn, producers; Chronos Film GmbH) |
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| Foreign Language Film | Confidence, Hungary |
| Kagemusha (The Shadow Warrior), Japan |
| The Last Metro, France |
| Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, U.S.S.R. |
| The Nest, Spain |
| Special Achievement Award | | Visual Effects | Brian Johnson, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren and Bruce Nicholson, The Empire Strikes Back |
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| Honorary Awards | To Henry Fonda, the consummate actor, in recognition of his brilliant accomplishments and enduring contribution to the art of motion pictures |
| To Fred Hynes in appreciation for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |
