WHat if your awards were announced five days before and no one could find them. The Utah Film Critics Circle announced winners on December 23, but few of us in the Oscar prognostication field could find it. I happened across these results on a Salt Lake City ABC affiliate’s website. It’s too bad more people haven’t seen these (hopefully that will change now) as they are some of the most interesting selections so far. Drive winning Best Cinematography over The Tree of Life, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Amy Ryan picking up their first precursor wins. Senna picking up the documentary award. If only more of their choices were off the beaten path. Best Actress is their only perfect category, though seldom do their winners translate to the Oscars.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we’re giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

Nomination Tallies

(3) Drive

The Nominations

Best Picture

Drive (Runner-Up: The Artist)

Best Animated Feature

Rango (Runners-Up: The Adventures of Tintin / Kung Fu Panda 2)

Best Director

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist (Runner-Up: Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive)

Best Actor

Joseph Gordon-Levitt – 50/50 (Runner-Up: Jean Dujardin – The Artist)

Best Actress

Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn (Runner-Up: Rooney Mara – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

Best Supporting Actor

Albert Brooks – Drive (Runner-Up: Christopher Plummer – Beginners)

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Ryan – Win Win (Runner-Up: Vanessa Redgrave – Coriolansu)

Best Original Screenplay

50/50 (Runner-Up: Beginners)

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants (Runner-Up: The Muppets)

Best Cinematography

Drive (Runner-Up: The Tree of Life)

Best Foreign Language Film

A Separation (Runner-Up: 13 Assassins)

Best Documentary

Senna (Runner-Up: Project Nim)

Utah Film Critics Data

First Awards: 2002 (11)

Precursor Accuracy

KEY:

• Winner won the corresponding Oscar
• Winner was nominated for the corresponding Oscar
• Winner was not nominated for a corresponding Oscar
• Total (2010-2009-2008-2007-2006)

Picture: 1 (0-0-0-1-0) N / 4 (2-1-0-1-0) N / 2 (0-0-1-0-1) I
Animated Feature: 3 (1-0-1-1-X) N / 4 (1-1-1-1-X) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-X) I
Director: 1 (0-0-0-1-0) N / 3 (1-1-0-1-0) N / 3 (1-0-1-0-1) I
Actor: 1 (0-0-0-1-0) N / 3 (1-0-1-1-0) N / 2 (0-1-0-0-1) I
Actress: 2 (1-0-0-0-1) N / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Supporting Actor: 3 (1-0-1-1-0) N / 3 (1-0-1-1-0) N / 2 (0-1-0-0-1) I
Supporting Actress: 1 (0-1-0-0-0) N / 4 (1-1-0-1-1) N / 1 (0-0-1-0-0) I
Original/Adapted Screenplay: 2 (1-0-0-1-0) N / 2 (1-0-0-1-0) N / 3 (0-1-1-0-1) I
Cinematography: 0 (0-X) N / 0 (0-X) N / 1 (1-X) I
Foreign Language Film: 0 (0-0-0-0-0) N / 1 (1-0-0-0-0) N / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) I
Documentary Feature: 3 (0-1-1-0-1) N / 3 (0-1-1-0-1) N / 2 (1-0-0-1-0) I