The results are in, and the undisputed champion of the 3rd Oscar Pool is Lindsay Anderson of Chicago. Not only did she beat the nearest competition by three points, but she also called the most categories, naming 16 of the 23 winners, AND she beat her previous year's score by 16 points, snagging the title of Most Improved. Though most complained that this was a difficult year to predict, on the whole we did quite well, and the pool favorite was the winner in 15 categories, with only three really big surprises. The winner that received the fewest guesses was the Best Live Action Short, with three, though the most significant surprise was probably Michael Caine as Best Supporting Actor, receiving only six guesses. Topsy-Turvy for Best Costume Design also reigned in six guesses. The most popular pick was American Beauty for Best Picture, which received 30 of the 31 guesses. Angeline Jolie received 25 for Supporting Actress, Sam Mendes for Director and "All About My Mother" for Foreign Film both received 23, Kevin Spacey received 22 for Best Actor, and "The Cider House Rules" received 20 for Adapted Screenplay, all of which were winners. The most hotly contested category was Best Actress, where Annette Bening received 18 guesses, and Hilary Swank, 12. Also, it should come as no surprise that the technical awards were pretty much an either/or scenario. Combining Best Sound, Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects, of the 93 guesses, 91 went to either Star Wars or The Matrix, with 39 and 52, respectively. Of note this year was the importance of the tiebreaker, as 22 of the 31 tiebreaker guesses were used to determine rank. Below you'll find the special awards, which go to those who may or may not have won money, but nonetheless accomplished something noteworthy.

Tiebreaker Question: How many acceptance speeches will be cut short by the music?
Rank
 Name Score Tie (4) Prize
1
 Lindsay Anderson
42
$93
2
 David Lasky
39
6
$46.50
3
 Amanda Armato
39
7
$15.50
4
 Joe Marlovits
38
5
 Adam Rubin
37
3
6
 Jeff Paal
37
8
7
 Lamont Holmes
36
8
 Dominic Armato
35
T9
 Jonathan Block
34
5
T9
 Andrew McNaughton
34
5
T11
 Alejandro Becker
33
3
T11
 James Pike
33
5
13
 Armarna Raynolds
33
10
14
 Rochelle Janae
32
7
15
 Jerry Bianco
32
8
16
 Tanner Crane
32
9
17
 Keith Armato
31
18
 Lee Miles
29
T19
 Joanna Armstrong
28
3
T19
 Ryan Ingrassia
28
3
21
 Alex Suarez
28
6
22
 Ivy Dizon
28
9
23
 Morgan Doremus
26
24
 Bobby Baier
25
2
25
 Kirsten Trainer
25
7
26
 Bob Ellis
24
5
27
 Alex Strife
24
6
28
 Steve Silver
22
29
 Sara Smith
21
30
 Wendy Albert
17
31
 Whitney Merennia
12
The "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead!" Award
Andrew McNaughton
After winning both of the first two Oscar Pools, Andrew has finally been unseated as the champion, falling not only from first place, but out of the money as well, to 10th. Now, if we can only keep him out of the money for the next 32 years, we can get all of his winnings back!
The Persistence Award
Amanda Armato
After finishing just out of the money, in fourth place for two years running, Amanda finally broke through and took third, along with $15.50. If nothing else, she's consistent. She was also, incidentally, the only person to correctly guess all six majors.
The Almost Poetic Justice Award
Joe Marlovits
By guessing Tom Cruise instead of Michael Caine for Supporting Actor, Joe narrowly missed creating true poetic justice. Had he picked Caine, not only would his score of 42 have tied him with his fiancee, Lindsay, for first place, but in the process he would have bumped Amanda down to fourth place, and over the three years of the pool she would have missed the money by an average of one point. Also, the fact that his tiebreaker would have beaten Lindsay's means that he narrowly avoided becoming the first recipient of the "None Tonight" award.
The "Points, Schmoints" Award
Jonathan Block
Despite finishing tied for ninth, five points out of the money, Jonathan guessed 15 categories correctly, second only to Lindsay's 16, three more than Amanda in third. Unfortunately, those 15 included a sweep of all six one-pointers. Also of note were Adam Rubin and Joe Marlovits with 14 apiece, and Jeff Paal with 13.
The Sixth Sense Award
Amanda Armato and Steve Silver
Amanda and Steve were two of the six who guesses Michael Caine as Best Supporting Actor, and two of only three who guessed the Best Live Action Short, pegging two of the three biggest surprises.
The "Better Luck Next Year" Award
Whitney Merennia
In addition to having the lowest score, Whitney was the only person who did not pick American Beauty for Best Picture. To her credit, however, her score still quadrupled last year's winner of this award. For her efforts, and for being such a good sport about receiving the award, Whitney will receive a free entry into next year's pool.