My annual Oscar predictions:

Will win
Should win
* = Could win

BEST PICTURE

The Departed
Little Miss Sunshine
Babel
The Queen * (the votes might split to its favor)
Letters from Iwo Jima

BEST ACTOR

Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson

BEST ACTRESS

Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Kate Winslet, Little Children

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine *
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine *
Adriana Barraza, Babel

BEST DIRECTOR

Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Departed
Children of Men *
Notes on a Scandal
Little Children
Borat

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Cars
Happy Feet *
Monster House

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Deliver Us from Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
The Lives of Others, Germany *
Water, Canada
After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory, France

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige
The Illusionist
The Black Dahlia

BEST EDITING

The Departed
Babel
Children of Men *
United 93
Blood Diamond

BEST ART DIRECTION

Pan's Labyrinth
Dreamgirls
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige
The Good Shepherd

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Curse of the Golden Flower
Dreamgirls
The Queen
Marie Antoinette
The Devil Wears Prada *

BEST MAKEUP

Pan's Labyrinth
Apocalypto
Click

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Javier Navarrete, Pan's Labyrinth
Alexandre Desplat, The Queen
Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
Phillip Glass, Notes on a Scandal
Thomas Newman, The Good German

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

"I Need to Wake Up", An Inconvenient Truth
"Our Town", Cars
"Listen", Dreamgirls
"Love You I Do", Dreamgirls *
"Patience", Dreamgirls

BEST SOUND MIXING

Dreamgirls
Apocalypto
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Flags of Our Fathers
Blood Diamond

BEST SOUND EDITING

Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns *