With 2022 drawing to a close, thoughts in Hollywood are beginning to turn to who might be celebrating Oscars success next year.

The 95th Academy Awards are only a few months away, so here is everything you need to know about show business’s glitziest awards ceremony.

When are the Oscars?

The 95th Academy Awards will take place on Saturday 12th March, 2023.

The shortlists of films, all released during 2022, will be announced on Wednesday 21st December and nomination voting will take place between 12th January and 17th January, with the nominations being announced on 24th January.

Final voting will then occur between 2nd March and 7th March with the winners being announced on the big night.

Where are the Oscars?

The Oscars are to be held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and will be hosted for the third time by comedian Jimmy Kimmel.

How are the Oscars decided?

There are more than 7,000 members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), about a quarter of which are actors, and about 6,000 of them are eligible to vote.

Ballots used to be mailed to members and the results were then collated, but that was a laborious and time-consuming process.

Since 2013, an online voting system has been in operation to speed things up a bit.

Why are the Oscars called the Oscars?

The origin of the term Oscar for an Academy Award is disputed, although the nickname was officially adopted in 1939.

Most believe that former executive director Margaret Herrick came up with the name in 1931 when, upon seeing an award for the first time, she commented that it reminded her of her cousin, Oscar Pierce.

However, screen legend Bette Davies, who was president of the academy in 1941, is reported in a biography to have named the award after her first husband Harmon Oscar Nelson.

The first time the phrase went into print was in a newspaper column in 1934 and Walt Disney became the first person to refer to an Oscar in his acceptance speech the same year.

Best Picture odds

The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story about becoming a young filmmaker is available at 6/5 to win the Best Picture Oscar and its chief market rival is Everything Everywhere All at Once at 10/3.

That is a comedy drama about a Chinese-American immigrant who has to connect with herself in a parallel universe to stop the multiverse from being destroyed.

Black tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin is available to back at 5/1, while the fantasy epic Avatar: The Way of Water is 5/1.

Best Actor odds

Brendan Fraser is 8/11 to win the Best Actor award for his role as a reclusive, obese English professor in The Whale, which has already earned him a Golden Globe nomination.

Colin Farrell is 3/1 for his part in The Banshees of Inisherin, while Austin Butler is 9/2 to win for his portrayal of the king of rock n roll in Elvis.

Hugh Jackman is 10/1 to get his hands on the trophy for the part he played in family drama The Son.

He has been nominated once before, in 2012 when he lost out to Daniel Day-Lewis, who was in the starring role in the historical biopic Lincoln.

Best Actress odds

The battle for the Best Actress award could be one of the most keenly contested.

Cate Blanchett is 13/10 for his her role in Tar, which concerns the rise and fall of a renowned composer and conductor, but there are others who could make a bold bid.

Michelle Yeoh has the starring role in Everything Everywhere All at Once and is 4/1, while Viola Davis is 11/2 for the part she plays in The Woman King, an alternate history about a group of all-female warriors defending the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s.

Margot Robbie is 6/1 to win for her part in Babylon, a tale about a number of different characters coping with Hollywood’s transition from silent films to talkies in the 1920s, while the ever-popular Olivia Colman will have high hopes with Empire of Light.

She is 6/1 to win her second Oscar following his Best Actress award for the Favourite in 2019, and she has also been nominated for the last two years.

Best Director odds

Steven Spielberg has won the Best Director Award twice - for Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List - and he is 8/15 to add another to his collection for The Fabelmans.

James Cameron, who took the award with Titanic in 1998, is 5/1 to win with Avatar: The Way of Water, 12 years after he was nominated for the original film.

Sarah Polley is 15/2 for the film she also wrote, the drama Women Talking.