Oscars 2013 Most Unpredictable Races: Best Supporting Actor, Picture, Actress, Director Among Most Contested Categories This Year

On Feb. 24 the Academy Awards will unveil the Best Picture of the year. The awards are known for their unpredictable nature in the technical awards but never in the major Acting, Screenplay, or Best Picture awards.

This year six major categories have become mysterious and hard to foresee. The Best Actress category has become one of the hardest races to predict as Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty"), Jennifer Lawrence ("Silver Linings Playbook") and Emmanuelle Riva ("Amour") have all won a plethora of awards. Emmanuelle Riva has become the front-runner after her British Academy Awards win. However, Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence have also won major awards and were unstoppable during precursor recognitions.

The Best Supporting Actor award is also interesting as Christoph Waltz ("Django Unchained"), Philip Seymour Hoffman ("The Master") and Tommy Lee Jones ("Lincoln") split the major awards. Waltz seems to have emerged as the front-runner because of his Globe and BAFTA win. However, his recent win in 2009 may sway the voters to go for Jones or Hoffman.

The Best Original Screenplay award is also heavily unpredictable as "Django Unchained" and "Amour" were ineligible for the Writers Guild of America Awards. "Zero Dark Thirty" may have won the WGA but the former two Best Picture contenders have won numerous prizes and "Thirty's" controversy can hurt its chances.

The Adapted Screenplay has five Best Picture nominees: "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Argo," "Lincoln," "Life of Pi" and "Silver Linings Playbook." The films have all split the writing awards and while "Argo" may be the front-runner in the category after a WGA win, the WGA has a history of incorrectly predicting the winners.

The Best Director category is by far the most contested race of the night as pundits have no clue who will win. With Ben Affleck sweeping the top prizes and not being nominated, it will be a race to watch because the winner could sway who wins Best Picture.

The final category to look out for is the Best Picture race. "Argo" won the Screen Actors, Directors, Producers and Writers Guilds as well as the Golden Globes, the BAFTA and the Critics' Choice making it the top film to win the award. However, its lack of a director nod has pundits skeptical.

For more information on the state of the race read our final predictions.

The Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC at 8 p.m. EST.