Tonight and Saturday night, four precursors will be revealing their winners. Two guilds, one professional organization and one collegiate group. Starting things off tonight (Friday), the University of Southern California will reveal the winners of its annual Scripter award, a prize given to the best screenplay adapted from a literary source. The prize goes not only to the screenwriters but also the original source author. Following that up is a triple play with the Annie Awards, a professional organization of animators who will present trophies for the year’s best achievements in animation; the Art Directors Guild and the Writers Guild of America.

But, to prepare you for the weekend’s precursors, we’re here to provide our predictions. In most cases, we list runners-up, but not everyone has chosen one. In addition, those of us who have provided commentary will have it included as well below. We’ll start things off in order in alphabetical order:

Annie Awards

Animated Feature

Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon (Wesley, RU:Tripp)
Tangled (RU:Peter)
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3 (RU:Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Wes)

Wesley Lovell: Only twice in the last ten years has the most nominated film not won this prize. Last year, Up managed to steal the prize from Coraline. And the last time before that was Spirited Away. And with Kung Fu Panda having beaten the critically acclaimed WALL-E two years ago, a win by How to Train Your Dragon seems like a good bet. Of course, Toy Story 3 could still eke out a win, but considering the dust up this past year between Disney/Pixar and the Annie Awards organization, a vote for How to Train Your Dragon, a very popular film, would be a easy way to snub them.

Animated Short Subject

Coyote Falls
Day & Night (Wesley, Peter, Wes)
Enrique Wrecks the World
The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger (RU:Wesley)
The Renter (RU:Peter)

Wesley Lovell: I just can’t imagine anyone wanting to award a short film other than Day & Night. If it happens, it will be entirely the issues Disney had with this group. We’ll hope logic prevails.

Animated Effects

Andrew Young Kim – Shrek Forever After
Jason Mayer – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley?, Wes?)
Brett Miller – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley?, Wes?)
Sebastian Quessy – Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
Kryzstof Rost – Megamind

Wesley Lovell: I’m with Wes on this one. I have no idea which of the two How to Train Your Dragon folks will win, but it will probably one or the other.

Character Animation in an Animated Feature

Mark Donald – Megamind
Anthony Hodgson – Megamind
Gabe Hordos – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley?, Wes?)
Jakob Hjort Jensen – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley?, Wes?)
David Torres – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley?, Wes?)

Wesley Lovell: See my comments above regarding my inability to pick which How to Train Your Dragon nominee to choose.

Character Animation in a Live Action Feature

Quentin Miles – Clash of the Titans (RU:Wesley)
Ryan Page – Alice in Wonderland (Wesley, Wes)

Wesley Lovell: This is a 50-50 guess, but Alice in Wonderland was significantly more popular even if the effects in Clash of the Titans were probably better.

Character Design

Sylvain Chomet – The Illusionist
Carter Goodrich – Despicable Me (RU:Wesley)
Timothy Lamb – Megamind
Nico Marlet – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley, Wes)

Wesley Lovell: How to Train Your Dragon should run the gamut of awards tonight, so expect either this or Despicable Me to triumph.

Directing

Sylvain Chomet – The Illusionist
Pierre Coffin – Despicable Me
Mamoru Hosoda – Summer Wars
Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley)
Lee Unkrich – Toy Story 3 (RU:Wesley, Wes)

Wesley Lovell: For the same reasons I’m predicting How to Train Your Dragon in the Animated Feature category here, I’m picking the Dragon team over Unkrich for Toy Story 3.

Music

Sylvain Chomet – The Illusionist (RU:Wesley)
David Hirschfelder – Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
John Powell – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley, Wes)
Harry Gregson Williams – Shrek Forever After
Pharrell Williams, Heitor Pereira – Despicable Me

Wesley Lovell: When in doubt, go for the Oscar nominee of the bunch.

Production Design

Yarrow Cheney – Despicable Me (RU:Wesley?)
Eric Guillon – Despicable Me (RU:Wesley?)
Dan Hee Ryu – Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole
Pierre Olivier Vincent – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley, Wes)
Peter Zaslav – Shrek Forever After

Wesley Lovell: There’s only one Dragon nomination in this group, so my runner-up is one of the two Despicable Me nominees.

Storyboarding

Alessandro Carloni – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley?, Wes?)
Paul Fisher – Shrek Forever After
Tom Owens – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley?, Wes?)
Catherine Yuh Rader – Megamind

Wesley Lovell: Another double nomination for Dragon. Same deal. Can’t decide on which one.

Voice Acting

Jay Baruchel as Hiccup – How To Train Your Dragon (Wesley)
Gerard Butler as Stoick – How To Train Your Dragon
Steve Carrell as Gru – Despicable Me (RU:Wesley)
Cameron Diaz as Fiona – Shrek Forever After
Geoffrey Rush as Ezylryb – Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

Wesley Lovell: Last year, they went with an unknown (at least the least big name outside of the voice acting community). There is no choice like that this year. And since Baruchel is one of the keys to Dragon’s success, I am going with him.

Writing

Michael Arndt – Toy Story 3 (RU:Wesley, Wes)
Sylvain Chomet – The Illusionist
William Davies, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders – How to Train Your Dragon (Wesley)
Dan Fogelman – Tangled
Alan J. Schoolcraft, Brent Simons – Megamind

Wesley Lovell: Another Dragon/Toy Story showdown with me going the Dragon route.

Art Directors Guild (ADG)

Period Art Direction

Get Low
The King’s Speech (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Wes)
Robin Hood
Shutter Island (RU:Peter, RU:Tripp)
True Grit (RU:Wesley)

Wesley Lovell: It’s the most prominent Best Picture nominee of the bunch, but if any film can trump King’s Speech, it’s the other Best Picture nominee, True Grit.

Fantasy Art Direction

Alice in Wonderland (RU:Wesley, RU:Peter)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (RU:Tripp)
Inception (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Wes)
TRON Legacy

Wesley Lovell: Once again, the Best Picture nominee is likely to win, but since Inception looks more modern than fantastical, Alice in Wonderland may be the most prominent choice with TRON a possible spoiler.

Contemporary Art Direction

127 Hours (Wesley)
Black Swan (RU:Wesley, RU:Peter, Tripp, Wes)
The Fighter
The Social Network (Peter, RU:Tripp)
The Town

Wesley Lovell: There are four Best Picture nominees in this bunch, which makes that litmus test nigh impossible to use. So, looking at those four alone, 127 Hours had the most intensive work involved, re-creating an entire cavern environment that could be flooded easily and create the proper atmosphere. It’s a tough job and re-creating a natural environment seems like it would be candy for this group. Of course, the stylized Black Swan could be an easy winner as well. Though, I wouldn’t discount any of the Best Picture nominees, especially once-frontrunner Social Network.

USC Scripter

Adapted Screenplay

127 Hours
The Ghost Writer (RU:Wesley)
The Social Network (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Wes)
True Grit (RU:Peter, RU: Tripp)
Winter’s Bone

Wesley Lovell: Aaron Sorkin is a god in many circles and this group, which favors prominent writers, should have no problem picking Social Network. However, I think a shock win could be in the cards with The Ghost Writer giving them an opportunity to recognize Roman Polanski, though it could just as easily go to True Grit.

Writers Guild of America (WGA)

Original Screenplay

Black Swan (RU:Wesley)
The Fighter (RU:Peter, RU: Tripp)
Inception
The Kids Are All Right (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Wes)
Please Give

Wesley Lovell: Despite the striking number of ineligible features here, this is surprisingly similar to the Oscar race. But, without The King’s Speech, the next best option is probably The Kids Are All Right. But don’t count out Black Swan, Fighter or Inception from this race, but my guess would be the originality of Black Swan or Inception would strike the WGA more positively if anything but Kids were to win..

Adapted Screenplay

127 Hours
I Love You, Phillip Morris
The Social Network (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Wes)
The Town
True Grit (RU:Wesley, RU:Peter, RU:Tripp)

Wesley Lovell: Aaron Sorkin is a prominent name and I can’t really see them ignoring him when there are so few possible challengers here. After all, the Coens have an award and 127 Hours isn’t as successful as a screenwriting endeavor as it is a directorial achievement.

Documentary Screenplay

Enemies of the People
Freedom Riders
Gasland (RU:Wesley, RU:Peter)
Inside Job (Wesley, Peter)
The Two Escobars
Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?

Wesley Lovell: The one that has the most important thing to say should come out on top, but your guess is as good as mine on this one.