The Oscar Race is on! Although this may not be the usual kind of thing we do here at Japundit, I thought it would be fun to find out peoples predictions as to which celebrity will win the gold and have ever-lasting glory. And which celebrity will go home and beat their dog in frustration forever wallowing in the hallways of eternal shame.

The Oscar Race is among us! Ladies and Gentlemen, place your bets!

Overview: Here is how this is going to work. Each Catagory has a certain point value attached. The Most anyone can have is a total of 50 Points! The individual with the highest score after Oscar Night will be awarded by having their name (and picture if they so choose which you can email me or JP) posted on a follow up Japundit Article with a write up about their magnificence. (Whooo la la!) A Full List of the evenings Winners will also be posted so as to be a news segment also.

Rules: To keep this simple, this “contest” will not have ALL the Academy Catagories up for grabs. You reply at the bottom and post your bets. Just Category and one name is fine. I will print out the posts the night before so that no one can alter their bet afterwards! Cheaters will be booed and disqualified! Only Post ONCE please.

Here are the categories and point breakdowns:
Best Picture: (15 Points)
Babel / The Departed / Letters From Iwo Jima/ Little Sunshine/ Queen

Achievement in Directing: (10 Points)
Babel (Alejandro Inarritu), The Departed (Martin Scorsese), Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood), The Queen (Stephen Frears), United 93 (Paul Greengrass)

Performance by an Actor (5 Points)
Leo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond), Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson), Will Smith (Pursuit of Happyness), Forest Whitaker (The Last Kind of Scotland)

Performance by Supporting Actor (2 Points)
Alan Arkan (Little Miss Sunshine), Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children), Dijmon Hounsou (Blood Diamond), Eddit Murphy (Dreamgirls), Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

Performance by An Actress (5 Points)
Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (2 Points)
Adriana Barraza, Cate Blanchett, Abigail Breslin, Emily Blunt, Jennifer Hudson, Rinko Kikuchi

Best Screeplay Written directly for the Screen (2 Points)
Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Pan’s Labyrinth, Queen

Best Animated Feature Film (2 Points)
Cars / Happy Feet / Monster House

Best Art Direction (2 points)
Dreamgirls, Good Shepherd, Pan’s Labyrinth, Pirates of the Caribbean, Prestige

Best Film Editing (2 Points)
Babel, Blood Diamond, Children of Men, The Departed, United 93

Plus THESE TWO BONUS Questions:

Achievement in Sound Editing (2 Points)
Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima, Pirates of the Caribbean

Best Documentary Feature (1 Points)
Deliver Us From Evil, An Inconvenient Truth, Iraq in Fragments, Jesus Camp, My Country, My Country