We have followed the movies from their world premiere’s, interviewed the filmmakers and gone behind the scenes for an inside look at the nominees for this year’s 86th Academy Awards. Not surprisingly, when creating our list of predictions we drew strongly different opinions across the board.

Here are our predictions on who the front runners are, and  who might take home some of the 24 Oscar statuettes on March 2nd.  2013 was an exceptional year for filmmaking and even with the expanded category of 10 Best Picture nominees, all the nominees have a strong case for taking the big prize. Speculation is rampant.

Oscar nominations are tightly guarded secrets and the winners only announced when the envelope is opened at the Awards event. Scandal and controversy is no stranger to the Oscars. This year’s major Oscar faux pas erupted over the Best Original Song when an obscure duo was nominated alongside the likes of U2, while beating out other potential nominees Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey. Heartbreak followed as ex Academy governor Bruce Broughton—who is the song’s composer—was accused of a campaign that created “the appearance of an unfair advantage” during the nomination voting period. The song was subsequently stripped from the list, effectively reducing the nominations to 4 from 5 and robbing Swift and Del Rey of an opportunity for Oscar.

Since 1929 The Academy Awards have been held in Hollywood, California. The first awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and only 15 awards were presented. In 2002, the event moved to the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood which would become its permanent home. Culminating in the grand gala and awards evening on March 2, 2014, the week long event includes events and discussions celebrating films in the categories of Best Foreign Film, Short Animated Film, Live Action Short, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short and Animated Feature Films. A brief timeline of the history of the Academy Awards is available here.

See full list of nominees here.