Greater Western New York Critics winners: ‘Nomadland,’ ‘Sound of Metal,’ ‘Minari’

The Greater Western New York Critics announced their winners on Thursday and Nomadland was the runaway champ with 5 wins (from its six nominations) including Best Picture and Best Director for Chloé Zhao. Zhao also picked up wins for Adapted Screenplay and Editing.

Sound of Metal, which had led the nominations with 8, picked up four wins including Best Actor for Riz Ahmed (also the Breakthrough Performance winner) and Supporting Actor for Paul Raci.

Minari won Film in a Foreign Language as Supporting Actress for Youn Yuh-jung.

Here is the full list of winners of the Greater Western New York Critics awards.

Best Picture: Nomadland

Best Director: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best Actor: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Best Actress: Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung, Minari

Best Original Screenplay: Eliza Hittman, Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Best Adapted Screenplay: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best Animated Film: Wolfwalkers
Best Documentary: Time
Best Film in a Foreign Language: Minari

Best Cinematography: Joshua James Richards, Nomadland
Best Editing: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Best Score: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Soul

Breakthrough Director: Darius Marder, Sound of Metal
Breakthrough Performance: Paul Raci, Sound of Metal

Minari image courtesy of A24

• Author
• Recent Posts

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• FINAL Frontrunner Friday Oscar Predictions of the 2025/2026 Season - March 13, 2026
• FINAL 2026 Oscar Predictions: BEST PICTURE and BEST DIRECTOR - March 13, 2026
• Satellite Awards Winners: ‘Hamnet, ‘Marty Supreme,’ ‘The White Lotus,’ Andor’ and More - March 10, 2026