When are the Oscar nominations announced? How to watch shortlist ceremony for Academy Awards

The nominees for the 91st Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday 22 January.

Voting for this year’s Oscars took place between 7 and 14 January and the ceremony itself will follow on Sunday 24 February at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.

The Academy will be keen to get its awards season back on track following the Kevin Hart debacle, in which the comedian was removed as host after homophobic tweets resurfaced, leaving the organisers with little choice but to press ahead without a compere for the first time in 30 years.

How can I follow the nominations announcement?

The nominees will be revealed at Los Angeles’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre at 5.20am local time (around 1.20pm GMT) on Tuesday 22 January and streamed online at Oscar.com, Oscars.org and on the Academy’s Twitter, YouTube and Facebook Live pages.

Black-ish actress Tracee Ellis Ross and Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani will serve as hosts.

Last year Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis did a memorable job, the former having particular fun pronouncing people’s names and sending up the po-faced formality of the whole affair.

The Independent‘s Culture team will be liveblogging this year’s nominees on our site from midday.

Which films might be in contention for the top prizes?

Although it was largely snubbed at the recent Golden Globes, Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut A Star is Born starring Lady Gaga is widely tipped for a Best Picture nomination. Yorgos Lanthimos’s 18th-century period drama The Favourite is predicted to be nominated for multiple awards, particularly in the acting categories, thanks to its trio of strong central performances from Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone.

Little was expected of Bohemian Rhapsody but the film, charting the rise of stadium rock band Queen in the 1970s, overcame a troubled production to triumph at the box office and has continued to confound its critics.

Christian Bale could repeat his Globes win for Vice, in which he stars as George W Bush’s former right-hand man Dick Cheney from beneath layers of thick make-up. The Welsh actor thanked Satan for the inspiration in his Globes acceptance speech.

Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma could likewise win the Best Foreign Language Film category and its creator looks a good bet for Best Director. Hirokazu Kore-eda would also be a worthy winner in both fields for Shoplifters.

Other much-admired works expected to pick up nods include Beautiful Boy, Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Destroyer, Green Book, If Beale Street Could Talk, Sorry to Bother You and Stan and Ollie.

By contrast, Damien Chazelle’s First Man, starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy, and Steve McQueen’s Widows were tipped early on for awards glory but hardly recognised by the Globes and appear not to have carried their initial momentum forward.

Which shortlists have already been revealed?

The Academy has released shortlists for nine of this year’s 24 categories on 17 December 2018.

The categories drastically whittled down were: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short Subject, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film and Visual Effects.

You can see the complete list of shortlisted nominees for these categories on the Academy’s website.

What happened to the Best Popular Film category?

The new award was announced in August 2018 but withdrawn a month later on the strength of the hostile reception it received.

Critics and fans argued the category would be used as a means of sidelining crowd-pleasing blockbusters like Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, keeping Best Film free for the “prestige” pictures that usually dominate.

The Academy has said it “will examine and seek additional input regarding the new category” and has not ruled out its future revival.

How has Academy membership changed this year?

The Academy announced in June 2018 it had invited 928 new members of the filmmaking profession to join its ranks.

Part of a new initiative commenced under former Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the measure is intended to address the shocking revelation in 2016 that 92 per cent of membership was white and 75 per cent male.

Invitations were extended to actors including Amy Schumer, Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Chappelle, Sarah Silverman and Jada Pinkett Smith as well as a host technicians, directors and executives in a bid to improve diversity and offer a broader representation of opinion.