Oscar Winner Predictions: Best Sound Editing

The competition: American Sniper (Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman), Birdman (Martin Hernández and Aaron Glascock), The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Brent Burge and Jason Canovas), Interstellar (Richard King), Unbroken (Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro)

Previous winners: Gravity, Skyfall/Zero Dark Thirty, Hugo, Inception, The Hurt Locker, The Dark Knight, The Bourne Ultimatum
My winner: Announcing shortly after the Oscars!
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. I think it will be the latter this year, though “American Sniper” might take it. Murray has been nominated seven times and won once, for “Letters of Iwo Jima.” Asman has been nominated five times, all with Murray, and also won for “Letters of Iwo Jima.” Burge was nominated last year for the previous Hobbit installment. King has won three times, for “Master and Commander” and his two previous Christopher Nolan collaborations, “The Dark Knight” and “Inception.” All but “The Hobbit” are nominated for Best Sound as well.

Who should win: I haven’t seen “The Hobbit” but enthusiastically endorse “Interstellar.”
Who will win: I think “American Sniper” could surprise, but Interstellar seems like the safe bet here.