Oscar Season is Officially Underway! Here Are the Book-Based Contenders

The National Board of Review Winners

Established in 1909 by a group of New York City theater owners protesting the mayor's decision to revoke motion picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve in 1908, the National Board of Review consists of over 100 knowledgeable film enthusiasts, academics, and other filmmaking professionals. The NBR awards are a big deal because they're an important part of the early awards season kickoff, but also, they're a more diverse and wide-ranging crowd than the industry insiders of the Academy or Screen Actors Guild, and their picks tend to align with the eventual Oscar nominees. They definitely know their (film industry) stuff.

The following winners, announced on November 27th, are either adapted from books or have some book tie-ins that fans will want to check out:

Best Picture: A Star is Born
Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay: If Beale Street Could Talk
Best Animated Feature: Incredibles 2
Breakthrough Performance (Thomasin McKenzie): Leave No Trace
Best Directorial Debut (Bo Burnham): Eighth Grade
Best Documentary: RBG*
Best Ensemble: Crazy Rich Asians
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: 22 July

The IFP Gotham Awards

Also based in New York City, the Independent Filmmaker Project Gotham awards have nothing to do with Batman and everything to do with supporting and promoting independent films, which they've done for 36 years now. The Gotham Awards are also the first honors of the awards season. Here are the book-related winners:

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award: Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade
Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Ethan Hawke): First Reformed by Paul Schrader
Audience Award: Won't You Be My Neighbor*

The People's Choice Awards

The People's Choice Awards have been going for 44 years, and are exactly what they say they are, with winners chosen from votes cast by the general public and fans. Fun Facts: The first winners were The Sting, Barbra Streisand, and John Wayne, and the most awarded person is Ellen DeGeneres, with a total of 20, including Daytime Talk Show of 2018 (yay Ellen!).

Movie of 2018, Action Movie of 2018, Female Movie Star of 2018 (Scarlett Johansson): Avengers: Infinity War
Comedy Movie of 2018: The Spy Who Dumped Me by Susanna Fogel
Family Movie of 2018: Incredibles 2
Drama Movie of 2018, Drama Movie Star of 2018 (Jamie Dornan): Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James
Male Movie Star of 2018 (Chadwick Boseman), Action Movie Star of 2018 (Danai Gurira): Black Panther
Show of 2018, Male TV Star of 2018, Female TV Star of 2018 (Kate McNamara), Bingeworthy Show of 2018: Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
Drama Show of 2018: Riverdale by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Comedy Show of 2018: Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman
Revival Show of 2018: Dynasty*
Reality Show of 2018, Reality TV Star of 2018: Keeping Up With the Kardashians*
Comedy TV Star of 2018: Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Daytime Talk Show of 2018: The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Sci-fi/Fantasy Show of 2018: Wynonna Earp

The New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Founded in 1935, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards are the oldest critic awards in the United States, comprised of over 30 members from various New York-based daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, and online publications. As an organization that prides itself on recognizing a higher standard of film than even the Academy, they're also one of the most prestigious. 43% of their best picture picks have gone on to win Oscars, so there's obviously some crossover. The frontrunners for the 2018 awards include some of the same films that won NBR and Gotham Awards, plus: You Were Never Really Here based on the book by Jonathan Ames, The Wife by Meg Wolitzer, BlackKKlansman by Ron Stallworth, At Eternity's Gate*, and Can You Ever Forgive Me? based on the memoir of Lee Israel.

All of the Awards

So that you can follow along too, below are all of the awards and ceremonies that make up the (very!) busy red-carpet season.

November/December: Gotham Awards, People's Choice Awards, Hollywood Film Awards, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association

January: National Society of Film Critics, Critics' Choice Movie Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Writers Guild of America Awards, Producers Guild of America Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Malibu Film Festival Awards

February: Directors Guild of America Awards, Satellite Awards, British Academy Film Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, Golden Raspberry Awards, USC Scripter Awards, Academy Awards

*Books selected by ThriftBooks for purposes of this blog are representative of or related to, but not officially chosen or endorsed by, or connected to the actual films or television shows they're listed with in any way.

Keep an eye out for future blogs with updates on literary-based winners! P.S. If you're not following us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and/or Pinterest yet, doooo it…we're really fun (and we like books).

Read more by Beth Clark