January not only brings the start of a new year but also the start of the award season, which means the time of year when celebrities get all glammed up and come together for one night to celebrate all of their hard work.  Various Writers, Directors, Actors, as well as everyone else in between, are nominated for their previous years’ worth of work. Even musicians have a huge night of their own during this time of year.

This year’s season begins and looks like this:

January 9- People’s Choice Awards

January 10- Critics Choice Awards

January 13- Golden Globe Awards

January 27- Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG Awards)

February 2- Directors Guild Awards (DGA)

February 10- The Grammys

February 17- Writers Guild Awards

February 23- Independent Spirit Awards

February 24- Academy Awards (Oscars)

Many different categories can be won, whether it is for best motion picture, best actor or actress, or director.  The Academy Awards are the biggest award show for everything surrounding the making of movies. The Golden Globes are awarded by 80 voting members of the Hollywood Foreign Press, whereas the Oscars have 5,856 voting members of American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Historically, big Golden Globe winners would go onto win an Academy Award. However, this year the Academy Award nominations were announced before the Golden Globes were awarded which means the nominees may not all be the same. For example, Ben Affleck who is nominated and won for Best Direction in a Motion Picture for the Golden Globes is not nominated for an Academy Award, which was extremely surprising to many people.

Some movies that are nominated for Academy Awards are Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty. The Actors in a leading role who are nominated are; Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Huge Jackman (Les Misérables), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), and Denzel Washington (Flight). Actresses in a leading role are who are nominated are; Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Quvenzhané Wallis (Beast of the Southern Wild), and Naomi Watts (The Impossible).

Other awards include; Actor/Actress in a supporting role, Animated Feature Film, Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Film Editing, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (original song/score), Production Design, Short Film (animated/live action), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, and Writing (adapted screenplay/original screenplay).

For those who are looking for a way to escape the cold winter weather outside and slip into the world of well-respected actors and actresses who grace the films that captivate audiences of all ages, the award shows are the way to do it.  Getting to see all your favorites dressed up and celebrating is an enjoyable evening of mindless entertainment. Watching the movies nominated will illustrate the reasons for their success, and allow you to appreciate/enjoy the award shows that much more.