On Sunday the BAFTAs were held, and they were filled with the expected winners and some surprises which had awards-watchers and pundits alike shaking their heads.

The big award went to 12 Years a Slave. The slavery drama won Best Picture, continuing the streak of success it has been having over the past few award shows. It is heavily favored to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards next month, but it faces stiff competition from the science fiction masterpiece Gravity which pulled of a win in the Best British Film category (yes, it is funded mostly in Britain, and the producer was David Heyman, who also produced all eight Harry Potter films).

With Matthew McConaughey snubbed for a nomination, it was a tight race for Best Actor, with Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) prevailing. This won’t tell us much about the Oscar race for this prize, but it makes it clear that Ejiofor has some sort of support.

Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) continues her streak of being 2014 Awards Queen by winning another Best Actress award. This makes her the definitive lock to win her second Academy Award, and become the third person (after Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange) to go from winning Best Supporting Actress to Best Actress at the Academy Awards.

Once again, with no Jared Leto in the BAFTA race, it was a nail-biter to see who would win Best Supporting Actor. Would it be perrenial bridesmaid of the awards season Matt Damon (Behind the Candelabra) who wins, or the devilish Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave) who pulls off the upset? Nope. It was limo driver-turned-Hollywood star Barkhad Abdi who won for his chilling performance in Captain Phillips. However, don’t get too excited about his Oscar chances – Jared Leto has been grabbing awards for his passionate performance in Dallas Buyer’s Club. But we now know that Abdi seems to be a good alternative should there be an upset.

In the most shocking award of the night, Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) won Best Supporting Actress over Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave). The two ladies have been fighting it out the entire awards season, leading to speculation as to who is going to pull of the win. An eerily similar thing happened in 2012, with Best Actress. Viola Davis won the BFCA and SAG Award, while Meryl Streep won the Golden Globe and BAFTA – the same awards split Nyong’o and Lawrence have faced respectively. So if this trend is to continue, this means that the odds are in favor of Jennifer Lawrence to win her second consecutive Academy Award.

Finally, Best Director went to Alfonso Cuaron who has been sweeping the Director awards all season. With his DGA win, he can sleep assured he will be winning Best Director next month at the Academy Awards.

For more awards news and speculation, visit GoldDerby.

The Academy Awards are set to be broadcast on March 2nd on ABC.

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