Photo Credit: Associated Press/Chris Carlson

By Robbie Brussell ‘12
News Editor

The race to crown Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards has already begun, and I’m tracking a pack of potential winners.

That’s why I’ve formulated this Oscar Prediction List, and the closer we get to the Oscars, on March 7, the more I will be updating this list. And by the way, the reason the Oscars have been moved to March is to avoid coinciding with the Winter Olympics in February.

A term I am going to be using a lot is buzz. Buzz is based on critics’ reviews of the movie, performances in the film, the script, and people saying this movie, performance, script, etc., will win an Oscar.

The potential winners are listed in no particular order, and the names or titles below the line are other possible nominees.

Some of you may be wondering why I have 10 nominations for Best Picture. This is because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has expanded the number of nominations for Best Picture from five to 10.

My current criteria for the nominations in Best Picture is originality, plot, buzz surrounding the movie, actors and the director.

For the Actor/Actress categories, my picks are based on how big of a stretch the role is for the actor, the actor’s talents and the buzz around the actor for this role. As for the Writing category, that is based mostly on the originality and the buzz around the script.

Over the past month, television has been busy with award shows. Some were doubting the fact that Avatar could even be nominated, including me, but after its nomination and win at the Golden Globes it is a major contender to win. However, the best indicator of Oscar winners are the Critics Choice Awards. I am expecting all of the winners of the Critics Choice Awards to go on to win an Oscar with the exception of the Meryl Streep Sandra Bullock tie, which Meryl Streep will probably win at the Academy Awards.

BEST PICTURE
1. “The Hurt Locker”
2.”Avatar”
3. “Inglorious Basterds”
4. “Up in the Air”
5. “Precious”
6. “Up”
7. “An Education”
8. “A Serious Man”
9. “Invictus”
10. “District 9″
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11. “A Single Man”
12. “Star Trek”
13. “(500) Days of Summer”
14. “Crazy Heart”
15. “Drag Me to Hell”

BEST ACTOR
1. Jeff Bridges: “Crazy Heart”
2. George Clooney: “Up in the Air”
3. Morgan Freeman: “Invictus”
4. Colin Firth: “A Single Man”
5. Jeremy Renner: “The Hurt Locker”
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6. Daniel Day Lewis: “Nine”
7. Christian McKay: “Me and Orson Welles”
8. Viggo Mortensen: “The Road”
9. Matt Damon: “The Informant!”
10. Robert Downey Jr.: “Sherlock Holmes”

BEST ACTRESS
1. Meryl Streep: “Julie and Julia”
2. Sandra Bullock: “The Blind Side”
3. Gabourey Sidibe: “Precious”
4. Carey Mulligan :”An Education”
5. Hellen Miren: “The Last Station”
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6. Emily Blunt: “The Young Victoria”
7. Abbie Cornish: “The Bright Star”
8. Penelope Cruz : “Broken Embraces”
9. Meryl Streep: “It’s Complicated”
10. Soarise Ronan: “The Lovely Bones”

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Christoph Waltz: “Inglourious Basterds”
2. Stanley Tucci: “The Lovely Bones ”
3. Matt Damon: “Invictus”
4. Alfred Molina: “An Education”
5. Christopher Plummer: “The Last Station”
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6. Richard Kind: “A Serious Man”
7. Alec Baldwin: “It’s Complicated”
8. Woody Harrelson: “The Messenger”
9. Paul Schneider: “Bright Star”
10. Toby Mcguire: “Brothers”

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Mo’Nique: “Precious”
2. Anna Kendrick: “Up in the Air”
3. Julianne Moore: “A Single Man”
4. Vera Farmina: “Up in the Air”
5. Maggie Gyllenhaal: “Crazy Heart”
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6. Susan Sarandon: “The Lovely Bones”
7. Judi Dench: “Nine”
8. Samantha Morton: “The Messenger”
9. Sigourney Weaver: “Avatar”
10. Penelope Cruz: “Nine”

BEST DIRECTOR
1. Kathryn Bigelow: “The Hurt Locker”
2. James Cameron: “Avatar”
3. Quentin Tarantino: “Inglourious Basterds”
4. Jason Reitman: “Up in the Air”
5. Lee Daniels: “Precious”
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6. Clint Eastwood: “Invictus”
7. Lone Scherfig: “An Education”
8. Joel and Ethan Coen: “A Serious Man”
9. Rob Marshall: “Nine”
10. Peter Jackson: “The Lovely Bones”

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
1. “Up in the Air”
2. “Precious”
3. “District 9″
4. “An Education”
5. “Crazy Heart”
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6. “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
7. “Nine”
8. “Brothers”
9. “The Road”
10. “Where the Wild Things Are”

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
1. “Inglourious Basterds”
2.”Up”
3. “The Hurt Locker”
4. “(500) Days of Summer”
5. “A Serious Man”
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6. “Avatar”
7. “Crazy Heart”
8. “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
9. “It’s Complicated”
10. “Bright Star”