Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Milk are locks. Frost/Nixon has sustained its steam and is likely to sneak in. And it's a slugfest between The Dark Knight and Wall-E for the much-coveted final slot. The Revolutionary Road and Doubt are so dead in the water.

Is Meryl Streep poised to win her third statuette? A lot of critics have no doubt about it, but will the Academy finally give it to the long overdue Kate Winslet? In the other race, it's a three-way toss between Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke and Frank Langella, but don't count Brad Pitt out. Finally, will Heath Ledger get the posthumous award?

Yes, it's Oscar season again, and we're pretty sure Oscar addicts out there are now waiting for the results of the Golden Globes, SAG, PGA, and DGA to make their final predictions.

The Oscar ceremony

The tradition of the Oscars, officially the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), dates back when the first talkies had just begun. The first ceremony was held on May 16, 1929 to honor outstanding achievements of films produced in 1927 and 1928.

Attended by 250 people, it was the only ceremony that was not broadcast. In 1930, the show was broadcast live by a radio station in Los Angeles. By the following year, the Oscars were broadcast on national radio.

Until 1940, the results were announced to newspapers for publication in time for the late edition, but the LA Times changed this method when it announced the results before the ceremony started.

Because of this, the Academy has since implemented the sealed-envelope system. NBC-TV and radio covered the first live televised broadcast of the Oscars in 1952, and in 1969, the Academy Award ceremonies were broadcast on TV worldwide.

The statuette

The origin of the name of the statuette, Oscar, is still debatable. A Bette Davis biography claims that the trophy is named after her first husband. Walt Disney also thanked the Academy for his Oscar in 1932. A 1934 edition of the TIME Magazine also mentions the term Oscar. Regardless of its origin, the statuette was officially named the "Oscar" in 1939 by the AMPAS.

Membership

The AMPAS has a voting membership of around 5,800 as of 2007. Actors account for the largest voting bloc, with 1,300 members (22%) of the AMPAS' composition. Members can join by invitation from the Board of Governors. The Academy considers new membership proposals every year. Although the membership is growing, stricter policies keep its size steady.

Nomination and voting rules

A film is eligible for an Oscar if it opens in the previous calendar year, from 12 mn at the start of the first day of the year to 12 mn at the last day of the year. All Academy members may nominate a film for Best Picture, but members of different guilds may only submit nominations in their respective fields.

A second round of voting determines the winners. Here, all members are allowed to vote in all categories. The auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has been certifying the votes for the past 73 ceremonies.

Current categories

Todays major categories are: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Cinematography.

Other awards include: Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, Best Musical Score, Best Song, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, Best Animated Feature Film, Best Animated Short, and Best Live Action Short.