:: More awards and award nominations are being announced almost daily. Movie City News continues to assemble the results on their Awards Scoreboard, which shows Sideways continuing to lead in most categories, with Martin Scorsese having overtaken Alexander Payne in the Best Director race. The other great site for cumulative awards numbers is the Shadow Awards Sweepstakes. As of 16 January 2005, Rich Cline had tabulated 106 awards. According to his figures, the following are in the lead:

• Picture: Sideways
  
• Director: Martin Scorsese: The Aviator
  
• Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor: Sideways
  
• Actress: Imelda Staunton: Vera Drake
  
• Actor: Jamie Foxx: Ray
  
• Supporting Actress: Virginia Madsen: Sideways
  
• Supporting Actor: Thomas Haden Church: Sideways

Recent announcements include the nominations for the Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2005. Kate Winslet scored two nominations for Best Actress, for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Finding Neverland. The 57th Annual Director's Guild Nominations were announced on January 6th, the nominees being Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby, Marc Forster for Finding Neverland, Taylor Hackford for Ray, Alexander Payne for Sideways, and Martin Scorsese for The Aviator. Of interest is that the nominations also list the members of the Directorial Team of each nominee.

The nominees for the 11th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced on January 11th. A different award given here is the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, with the cast members listed in the nominations - nice touch. Casts from The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Hotel Rwanda, Million Dollar Baby, Ray, and Sideways were nominated.

Movie City News maintains its Awards Watch 2005 page, updated daily. Links found there include a list of the 50 films submitted for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and the Eligible Releases for Distinguished Achievements During 2004, 267 films in all. What the criteria are for their eligibility isn't given.

Variety also has a detailed Award Central site, which appears to be accessible without a subscription. One article that caught my eye discusses the film scores which are ineligible for the Oscar this year, including The Aviator, which has already won Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critic Assn awards for Howard Shore. Also ineligible are Ray, Shrek 2, Collateral, and Million Dollar Baby, which was scored by Clint Eastwood.