Gold Rush Gang Members 2014/2015

Hello folks, Erik Anderson here and as its fearless leader it is my pleasure to announce that a new batch of Gold Rush Gang members has been inaugurated for the upcoming awards season. We have five returning members and five newbies. The Gold Rush Gang is made up of some of Awardswatch’s top prognosticators in last year’s Gold Rush, an annual competition on our forums in which members not only predict the Oscars, but also the most important precursors leading up to them. Our accuracy rate is often higher than most gurus out there so if you want know what’s really going to happen, look no further than right here. We will be predicting the Top 8 categories all season and adding the tech, animation and foreign language categories as the season progresses. As always, we’ll have juicy podcasts full of killer predictions and not just a little attitude. Let the season begin!

ERIK ANDERSON
Erik blames his mother for his love of all things Oscar, having watched them together since he opened his eyes. They also watched Miss Universe religiously every year and Erik came to the conclusion that the combination of these two things ultimately led him down the path to obsessing about ACTRESSING. He began at GoldDerby, led by Tom O’Neill and then migrated over to Oscarwatch (now known as AwardsDaily), headed up by Sasha Stone before breaking off to create AwardsWatch. He is a member of the International Cinephile Society, GALECA (Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association) and co-founder/co-editor of AwardsWatch and was quoted in the Sony Pictures Classics FYC campaign for Still Alice. (erikdean in the forums)

EVAN KOST
For anyone that knows Evan, it’s no surprise that he was first introduced to the insanity known as Oscarwatching through his grandmother. He was instantly hooked, and they’ve closely followed each season since then – from Shakespeare in Love‘s shocking triumph to Argo’s history-defying win last year. He also serves as manager, and participant, of the infamous Gold Rush contest, where he ruled the roost once and has finished in the Top 5 every other year. (Submerge in the forums)

KENNETH POLISHCHUK
First and foremost, Kenneth likes awards because he loves movies, but he also loves the glamour and the pageantry of the shows themselves. The horseracing aspect of it all also appeals to him. He’s participated in the Gold Rush the last four years and has placed 5th, 6th, 3rd, 4th and 7th. (Moviefreak in the forums)

PETER CIOTH
Peter has been on the forums since the start of 2012. He’s a student in the real world and a student of pop culture, and he enjoys predicting who will win awards because it combines his love of pop culture with his love of competition and speculating about the future. (Rage Colored Glasses in the forums)

RICHARD ANTHONY
Richard would like to thank the Academy for recognizing Quvenzhané Wallis’ transcendent turn as Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild. He runs the poll series in the forums for main Oscar categories that appear on the main page. He has placed 7th in the last Gold Rush and 4th for the three years before that, but has his sights set on snatching all wigs this year and sashaying away with the emerald and ruby encrusted crown. (with_one_voice in the forums)

ALEXANDER KNECHT
Alexander is 44 years old and comes from Munich, Germany. He’s working in the software development of an IT consulting company. He loves the Oscars because for him (like many others) they were a great starting point to discover movies that are better than your average blockbuster. Soon finding out that the Academy is far from perfect in determining the best films he started following the various critics awards, too. He placed 3rd in the most recent Gold Rush contest. (krokogeier in the forums)

DAVID MINKA
David is a painter and designer. He has been following the Oscars since the 1970’s and is a member of Awardswatch and the International Cinephile Society. (CINNAMON in the forums)

JASON OSIASON
Jason’s currently a business student, but his real passion lies in film and everything dealing with the Oscars. He’s been watching the Oscars since early childhood, but his obsessive relationship with awards predictions started after being blown away by Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (though he was extremely disappointed it didn’t sweep the Oscars). He placed 5th in the latest Gold Rush Tournament. (DirkDiggler in the forums)

MATT LOVERANES
Matt L. is a college student from Wellington, New Zealand. He got interested in awards-watching because when you make the transition from casual movie-goer to cinephile, it’s one of the few arbiters of supposed quality. Despite (arguably) knowing better and expanding his film-viewing horizons and interests with every passing year, he always comes back to Oscar. And with winning Gold Rush for this season, it almost feels like he’s won a little golden man himself. (Eduardo Zuckerberg in the forums)

MATTHEW MARK
Matt M. is 24 years old and originally from Massachusetts, but now works in New York City as a producer for television news. He remembers fragments of my first Oscar watching experience in 1998 when Titanic swept, and has been obsessed with films and awards ever since. He started online awards watching when he was 14 and it’s been a fun decade of obsession. He loves awards because it made him realize his love of writing and helped set forth the career path he is on now. (Matt-10 in the forums)