And the awards go to...

Keira Knightley in Anna Karenina.

December signals the start of film awards frenzy, as studios roll out their prize-worthy fare and critics’ associations announce their favourite films of the year and dole out awards like mince pies.

The Golden Globe nominations announced 10 days ago heralded the first showy event – they will be given out on January 13 in anticipation of the Oscars, whose nominations will be announced on January 10 and handed out on February 24, with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards (Baftas) handed out in the interim.

The Golden Globes have long been considered a useful pointer to the films that will feature strongly in the Oscar line-up; and it’s a safe bet to say that the frontrunners have already been established.

December signals the start of film awards frenzy, as studios roll out their prize-worthy fare

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, which looks at the final months of the legendary American President’s life, leads the Golden Globe pack with seven nominations, including of course Best Film Drama and Best Director.

Tarantino’s homage to the Spaghetti Western Django Unchained has critics salivating in adoration and may finally bag the cult director the major Oscar recognition he deserves.

Tying with Django Unchained with five Golden Globe nominations is Argo, writer/director/star Ben Affleck’s excellent take on the 1979 hostage crisis in Iran.

Very recent American history is revisited with director Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, a fictional account of the events leading up to the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, with four Globe nominations in the bag. Whether Bigelow will repeat the success she obtained two years ago with The Hurt Locker remains to be seen. What is certain is that Zero Dark Thirty is placed to be one of the films to beat.

Director Tom Hooper’s glorious take on smash musical Les Miserables has earned four Golden Globe nods and, considering the tradition of separating dramas from comedies and musicals, the likelihood is that Les Miserables will do pretty well at the Globes. While it is likely to earn many Oscar nominations, it might not manage to beat the tough competition.

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi – possibly the most visually stunning and poetic movie of the year – earned three Golden Globe nominations and will certainly clock up some key Oscar nominations, including Best Film and Best Director for Lee.

In these acting categories, there are a number of stars jostling for position and a handful have emerged as clear favourites.

Les Miserables’ protagonists Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe have all gained positive notices. The Master, a movie about a World War II veteran who returns home unsettled and uncertain of his future, stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, both of whom have been singled out.

Comedy/drama The Silver Linings Playbook stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper as two dysfunctional people who find comfort and solace in one another, while The Sessions stars John Hawkes as a man confined to an iron lung who is determined to lose his virginity. It’s a role that award-givers love and Hawkes has been highly praised for it, as is his co-star Helen Hunt as the woman who helps him out.

Life of Pi’s star Suraj Sharma deserves some sort of recognition – whether he gets it remains to be seen. British Actresses Rachel Weisz and Helen Mirren are also in the mix for their roles in The Deep Blue Sea and Hitchcock respectively.

As things stand right now, however, it looks like the Best Actor category will be between Lincoln’s Daniel Day-Lewis and Denzel Washington for his critically acclaimed role as a pilot battling alcoholism in Flight. The Best Actress category might boil down to a choice between Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty and Jennifer Lawrence.

Award nominations are generally accompanied by chatter about surprising inclusions and glaring omissions. The summer’s gargantuan blockbusters Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and The Dark Knight Rises have barely been recognised – possibly because superheroes don’t need awards to feel appreciated. More conspicuous by its absence is The Hobbit, possibly one of the most-highly anticipated releases of the year. In the meantime, although the sky was abuzz with predictions that Skyfall would be the first Bond film to win several Oscars, its single nomination at the Golden Globes does not augur very well.

Surprisingly – and undeservedly – director Joe Wright’s sumptuous if unorthodox take on Anna Karenina seems to have failed to ignite critics’ passions and only secured a Best Score nomination at the Globes.