Oscar Winner Predictions: Best Sound Editing

The competition: All is Lost (Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns), Captain Phillips (Oliver Tarney), Gravity (Glenn Freemantle), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Brent Burge and Chris Ward), Lone Survivor (Wylie Stateman)

Previous winners: Skyfall/Zero Dark Thirty, Hugo, Inception, The Hurt Locker, The Dark Knight, The Bourne Ultimatum
My winner: Fast and Furious 6
The facts: This category has alternately been a consolation prize for not winning any other category or part of a larger sweep in the technical categories. Last year produced a tie. This is the sixth nomination for Stateman, and Hymns is on his ninth nomination. He has won three times. All the other nominees are here for the first time.

Who should win: “Gravity” or “All is Lost”
Who will win: Giving to it to “All is Lost” would be a great tribute to an otherwise ignored film, but why wouldn’t this go to Gravity?