SAG Awards coming up

By Nicole Donner

As we become knee-deep in award season, everybody seems to have their own opinon of who should go home a winner and who should go home a loser.

For movies, the Academy Awards are the elite of the elite where the glamorous and talented go dog-eat-dog for the coveted, golden, little man statue. Therefore, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards could be titled the warm up act for this prestigious event.

Created in 1933, SAG has thus far represented 120,000 actors not only in movies and television but as well as commercials and music videos. Not just to give each actor a pat on the back, this union has stood up to major studios to break long-term contracts, improve workers’ rights and better the benefits for employees of this powerful industry.
In 1995, the SAG awards were created to honor performers in television and movies in 13 categories. Randomly choosen panels of the SAG commitee choose who they believe signifies their perception of performing.

Thirteen awards will be handed out to winners from movies and television series during this two-hour event, as well as a lifetime achievement award to legendary actors, the SAG awards give a more warm, down-to-earth feel than huge, glamorous award shows.
Why are the SAG awards so seemingly important? Anybody can give anybody a small statue of a naked man but why are the SAG awards considered a prime award show compared to the Academy Awards?

Since the creation of SAG, the award show has almost mirrored the winners of the Academy Awards that follow a month later. In 1997, the SAG panel awarded Helen Hunt best female actor, Jack Nicholson best male actor, Robin Williams best supporting male actor and Kim Basinger best support female actor. The panel of the SAG awards have correctly perdicted several performers who later win an oscar in the same category.

Most recently in 2004, the SAG awards awarded Hilary Swank, Cate Blachett, Morgan Freeman and Jamie Foxx, all of whom won an Oscar for the same categories shortly after. Since 1995, the SAG awards have awarded at least two actors who later go on to win Oscars.

The SAG pick the leading actors and movie enesembles who will be the top contenders for the gold if not correctly choose the winners. As acting enthusiasts wait for the nominees for the Academy Awards, several would recommend to watch the SAG awards for a preview of what is to come if history is to repeat itself.

The SAG awards will be airing Sunday on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m.

The nominees for the Academy Awards will be announced Tuesday at 5:30 a.m. For more information about the SAG awards and a list of the nominees, you can visit http://www.sagawards.com.