If you don’t know anything about me, that’s fine; just know this one thing: my favorite season of the year is Award Show season. I love movies, I love seeing the things I love get recognition, so naturally, I love award shows. So much so that every year I make predictions of who will win, and I get intense. This is my version of sports – there is a lot of time, energy, money, tears and emotion invested in this. But instead of making brackets, I make ballots.

The Academy Awards (more commonly known as The Oscars) is the biggest, most-viewed, most prestigious award show of the year. The best of the best films will be competing for awards in 24 categories. This year, the 89th Oscars will be taking place on February 26th this year, starting at 8:30pm EST on ABC (red carpet coverage starting at 7:00pm EST). Here is my predictions ballot (winners are in bold, possible contenders are italicized):

"La La Land" leads the nominations with a record-tying 14.

Best Picture

  • Arrival
  • Fences
  • Hacksaw Ridge
  • Hell or High Water
  • Hidden Figure
  • La La Land
  • Lion
  • Manchester by the Sea
  • Moonlight

Best Director

  • Damien Chazelle ("La La Land")
  • Mel Gibson ("Hacksaw Ridge")
  • Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight")
  • Kenneth Lonergan ("Manchester by the Sea")
  • Denis Villeneuve ("Arrival")

"Moonlight"

Best Actor

  • Casey Affleck ("Manchester by the Sea")
  • Andrew Garfield ("Hacksaw Ridge")
  • Ryan Gosling ("La La Land")
  • Viggo Mortensen ("Captain Fantastic")
  • Denzel Washington ("Fences")

Best Actress

  • Isabelle Huppert ("Elle")
  • Ruth Negga ("Loving")
  • Natalie Portman ("Jackie")
  • Emma Stone ("La La Land")
  • Meryl Streep ("Florence Foster Jenkins")

"Manchester by the Sea"

Best Supporting Actor

  • Mahershela Ali ("Moonlight")
  • Jeff Bridges ("Hell of High Water")
  • Lucas Hedges ("Manchester by the Sea")
  • Dev Patel ("Lion")
  • Michael Shannon ("Nocturnal Animals")

Best Supporting Actress

  • Viola Davis ("Fences")
  • Naomie Harris ("Moonlight")
  • Nicole Kidman ("Lion")
  • Octavia Spencer ("Hidden Figures")
  • Michelle Williams ("Manchester by the Sea")

"Fences"

Best Original Screenplay

  • "Hell or High Water"
  • "La La Land"
  • "The Lobster"
  • "Manchester by the Sea"
  • "20th Century Women"

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • "Arrival"
  • "Fences"
  • "Hidden Figures"
  • "Lion"
  • "Moonlight"

"Arrival"

Best Foreign Language Film

  • "Land of Mine" (Denmark)
  • "A Man Called Ove" (Sweden)
  • "The Salesman" (Iran)
  • "Tanna" (Australia)
  • "Toni Erdmann" (Germany)

Best Documentary - Feature

  • "Fire at Sea"
  • "I Am Not Your Negro"
  • "Life, Animated"
  • "O.J.: Made in America"
  • "13th"

Best Documentary - Short Subject

  • "Extremis"
  • "4.1 Miles"
  • "Joe's Violin"
  • "Watani: My Homeland"
  • "The White Helmets"

"Lion"

Best Animated Feature Film

  • "Kubo and the Two Strings"
  • "Moana"
  • "My Life as a Courgette"
  • "The Red Turtle"
  • "Zootopia"

Best Animated Short Film

  • "Blind Vaysha"
  • "Borrowed Time"
  • "Pear Cider and Cigarettes"
  • "Pearl"
  • "Piper"

Best Live Action Short Film

  • "Ennemis intérieurs"
  • "La Femme et le TGV"
  • "Silent Nights"
  • "Sing"
  • "Timecode"

"Hacksaw Ridge"

Best Original Score

  • "Jackie"
  • "La La Land"
  • "Lion"
  • "Moonlight"
  • "Passengers"

Best Original Song

  • 'Audition (The Fools Who Dream)' from "La La Land"
  • 'Can't Stop the Feelings!' from "Trolls"
  • 'City of Stars' from "La La Land"
  • 'The Empty Chair' from "Jim: The James Foley Story"
  • 'How Far I'll Go' from "Moana"

Best Sound Editing

  • "Arrival"
  • "Deepwater Horizon"
  • "Hacksaw Ridge"
  • "La La Land"
  • "Sully"

Best Sound Mixing

  • "Arrival"
  • "Hacksaw Ridge"
  • "La La Land"
  • "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"
  • "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi"

"Hidden Figures"

Best Cinematography

  • "Arrival"
  • "La La Land"
  • "Lion"
  • "Moonlight"
  • "Silence"

Best Visual Effects

  • "Deepwater Horizon"
  • "Doctor Strange"
  • "The Jungle Book"
  • "Kubo and the Two Strings"
  • "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"

Best Film Editing

  • "Arrival"
  • "Hacksaw Ridge"
  • "Hell or High Water"
  • "La La Land"
  • "Moonlight"

"Hell or High Water"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

  • "A Man Called Ove"
  • "Star Trek Beyond"
  • "Suicide Squad"

Best Costume Design

  • "Allied"
  • "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"
  • "Florence Foster Jenkins"
  • "Jackie"
  • "La La Land"

Best Production Design

  • "Arrival"
  • "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"
  • "Hail, Caesar!"
  • "La La Land"
  • "Passengers"