It’s that time of year again, as Hollywood’s finest find themselves, with alarming regularity, donning outfits that cost more than your house and jewellery worth more than you will earn in a lifetime. But awards season is all building to one supreme event, the Empire Awards Oscars on February 26. Ahead of that milestone, we assess the chances of each nominee in the major categories, and see who’s looking good ahead of the big night…
Why She Will Win
](http://empireonline.media/jpg/50/0/0/640/480/aspectfit/0/0/0/0/0/0/l/uploaded/oscarwin.jpg) She’s pant-wettingly funny in Bridesmaids, scoring the best lines and sharing the best scenes with Kristen Wiig. ![]%28http://empireonline.media/jpg/50/0/0/640/480/aspectfit/0/0/0/0/0/0/l/uploaded/oscarwin.jpg%29 With a Hollywood Reporter cover and a doormat no doubt buried under a mountain of scripts, she’s so hot right now. 
](http://empireonline.media/jpg/50/0/0/640/480/aspectfit/0/0/0/0/0/0/l/uploaded/oscarloss.jpg) Comic performance don’t win Oscars. You’d have to go back to Marisa Tomei and My Cousin Vinny in 1991 to find the last one to score in this category. ![]%28http://empireonline.media/jpg/50/0/0/640/480/aspectfit/0/0/0/0/0/0/l/uploaded/oscarloss.jpg%29 She hasn’t had the chance to prove her dramatic chops yet. Hollywood likes to reward versatility. %20As%20her%20[Vanity%20Fair%20cover](http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/01/hollywood-cover-rooney-mara-jessica-chastain-jennifer-lawrence?auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
](http://empireonline.media/jpg/50/0/0/640/480/aspectfit/0/0/0/0/0/0/l/uploaded/oscarwin.jpg) With roles in nearly every noteworthy film of 2011 %28OK, so five of them%29, she’s officially So Hot Right Now. ![]%28http://empireonline.media/jpg/50/0/0/640/480/aspectfit/0/0/0/0/0/0/l/uploaded/oscarwin.jpg%29 Among The Help’s shallow social butterflies, she’s the convincingly classy one. Dismissed as the others as a money-grabbing social climber, she displays more grace than any of her detractors and brings both tragedy and comedy to the film, especially in her scenes with Spencer.  She’s better in The Tree Of Life and wasn’t even nominated for that. ![]%28http://empireonline.media/jpg/50/0/0/640/480/aspectfit/0/0/0/0/0/0/l/uploaded/oscarloss.jpg%29 If anyone wins for The Help in this category, it’ll surely be Octavia Spencer.  The Geordie actress is arguably even better than her more heralded co-star, Glenn Close, in the film. ![