Rolling out the red carpet for Oscar night, 7 March. Photo credit:Bananawacky

Oscar time is upon us and the debate that has loomed over the course of this year’s awards season will finally be settled on Sunday evening:  Avatar or The Hurt Locker?

As crunch time approaches – the Oscars air on 7 March – punters are placing bets on their favourites at websites such as EasyOdds.com, which lists odds from 13 different bookmakers, including Ladbrokes, William Hill and Sky Bet.

But who’s the odds-on favourite? As far as the Best Picture and Best Director categories go, the media has almost unanimously pegged a stand-off between James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar and ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker. If BBC Arts correspondent Rebecca Jones’ theory about Oscar wins depending not on the quality of performance but rather on the studios’ marketing campaigns is true, then the sci-fi thriller will surely bag the gold. However, if we bestow the Academy with a little more credit, and it favours the gritty Iraq-set film over the high-grossing sci-fi thriller, as Sky predicts, it tips the bucket towards Bigelow. Meanwhile, the critics at The Telegraph are hoping for an Oscar upset with Quentin Tarantino and his Nazi revenge fantasy Inglorious Basterds; but with the two both critically-lauded and commercially successful films overshadowing categories across the board, his chances remain slim.

The Best Actress category is widely being predicted to be a photo-finish between Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side and two-time Academy Award winner, Meryl Streep, for her performance in Julie and Julia, according to The Times. Despite her BAFTA success with An Education, Carey Mulligan has not won much support in the Oscar big-leagues. Another newcomer is Gabourey Sidibe, nominated for her debut performance in the weighty ghetto drama Precious, but critics doubt that the actress who failed to bag a Golden Globe and BAFTA will have much luck this Sunday.

Jeff Bridges has been deemed a safe bet in the Best Actor category for Crazy Heart. The almost-certain win by Bridges has upped the odds for a win by George Clooney for Up in the Air to 13-1 and odds for Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker to about 28-1, Reuters reported.

The Best Supporting Actor and Actress categories have largely predicted Christoph Waltz for Inglorious Batserds and Mo’nique for Precious, respectively, as “sure-wins”, according to Sky.

Hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, the winners will be announced Sunday night, marking a perfect end to the weekend and hopefully providing an invigorating over-the-cooler discussion to cure the Monday blues.

Click here for a detailed list of Oscar bets.