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Organise your own sweepstake and you too can be an Oscar winner

Watching the Academy Awards could send anyone to sleep, even if they're in the correct time zone. But organising your own sweepstake is one way to add some extra drama to proceedings on Sunday night.

Tim Walker
Friday 25 February 2011 01:00 GMT
Comments

Here are the rules and, FYI, Jesse Eisenberg hasn't a hope.

1. Photocopy this page for everyone in your office, home, five-a-side football team or gambling addiction support group. Alternatively, buy each participant a copy of The Independent.

2. Study the form. We've provided odds for 10 of the 24 categories, courtesy of bookmaker William Hill.

3. Ask your friends, family or co-workers to pick a winner in each category and place an agreed amount – £1, say, or a matchstick – into the pot.

3. Stay up late to watch the entire four-hour awards ceremony. Or just get up early to check independent.co.uk for a list of the winners.

4. The colleague, family member, amateur footballer or gambling addict who predicted the greatest number of correct Oscar-winners takes the pot of matchsticks. Good luck! (And remember what we said about Eisenberg. Snowball in hell.)

Best Picture

Black Swan 33/1

The Fighter 50/1

Inception 66/1

The Kids Are All Right 100/1

The King's Speech 1/6

127 Hours 100/1

The Social Network 7/2

Toy Story 3 100/1

True Grit 40/1

Winter's Bone 100/1

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) 20/1

David O. Russell (The Fighter) 40/1

Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) 5/4

David Fincher (The Social Network) 4/7

Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit) 40/1

Best Actor

Javier Bardem (Biutiful) 50/1

Jeff Bridges (True Grit) 33/1

Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) 20/1

Colin Firth (The King's Speech) 1/66

James Franco (127 Hours) 20/1

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale (The Fighter) 1/6

John Hawkes (Winter's Bone) 66/1

Jeremy Renner (The Town) 66/1

Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) 66/1

Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech) 7/2

Best Actress

Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right) 7/1

Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole) 50/1

Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone) 25/1

Natalie Portman (Black Swan) 1/16

Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine) 50/1

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams (The Fighter) 20/1 (above)

Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech) 7/1

Melissa Leo (The Fighter) 2/5

Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) 5/2

Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) 66/1

Best Adapted Screenplay

Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (127 Hours) 25/1

Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) 1/25 (below)

Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) 12/1

Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit) 16/1

Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini (Winter's Bone) 25/1

Best Original Screenplay

Mike Leigh (Another Year) 40/1

Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson (The Fighter) 40/1

Christopher Nolan (Inception) 3/1

Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg (The Kids Are All Right) 16/1

David Seidler (The King's Speech) 2/9

Best Animation

How to Train Your Dragon 12/1

The Illusionist 50/1

Toy Story 3 1/66

Best Foreign Language Film

Biutiful vens

Dogtooth 8/1

In a Better World 9/4

Incendies 3/1

Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi) 16/1

Best Visual Effects

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Hereafter

Inception

Iron Man 2

Best Art Direction

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Inception

The King's Speech

True Grit

Best Cinematography

Black Swan

Inception

The King's Speech

The Social Network

True Grit

Best Costumes

Alice in Wonderland

I Am Love

The King's Speech

The Tempest

True Grit

Best Documentary Feature

Exit through the Gift Shop

Gasland

Inside Job

Restrepo

Waste Land

Best Documentary Short

Killing in the Name

Poster Girl

Strangers No More

Sun Come Up

The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Film Editing

Black Swan

The Fighter

The King's Speech

127 Hours

The Social Network

Best Make-Up

Barney's Version

The Way Back

The Wolfman

Best Original Score

How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell)

Inception (Hans Zimmer)

The King's Speech (Alexandre Desplat)

127 Hours (A.R. Rahman)

The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

Best Original Song

Country Strong ('Coming Home')

Tangled ('I See the Light')

127 Hours ('If I Rise')

Toy Story 3 ('We Belong Together')

Best Animated Short Film

Day & Night

The Gruffalo

Let's Pollute

The Lost Thing

Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a journey diary)

Best Live Action Short Film

The Confession

The Crush

God of Love

Na Wewe

Wish 143

Best Sound Editing

Inception

Toy Story 3

Tron: Legacy

True Grit

Unstoppable

Best Sound Mixing

Inception

The King's Speech

Salt

The Social Network

True Grit

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