Secrets of a real movie buff

As he watched the Academy Awards on Sunday night, Douglas Cheshire followed along with his predictions.

He had entered in The Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger's Oscar contest and was hoping to win two AMC movie passes and $100.

On one of his ballots, he'd gotten all but five categories correct. Even though the odds of doing this well are so astronomically low, Cheshire still didn't think he'd won.

"I had no idea," said Cheshire, a retired government worker, who made his picks based on what he thought and how he thought the Academy might vote.

It paid off.

Cheshire, 56, of Nokesville won the Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger's Oscar contest by predicting 17 out of 22 Academy Award winners.

Cheshire said he entered 11 ballots. But, the odds of getting all 22 categories all correct are so astronomically small; it was probably his knowledge of the movies—and a lot of luck—that helped.

But sometimes his knowledge didn't help.

He saw all three films in the visual effects category, "The Golden Compass," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Transformers."

"That was the one I missed on every ballot," Cheshire said. "Seeing the movies doesn't always give you a clue how the Academy will vote. That's the hardest part."

The second hardest part, he said, was picking the movies he thought members of the academy would vote for, rather than the ones he preferred.

He also said he had help from Entertainment Weekly, often going with their picks for categories he hadn't seen any of the nominated films in, like documentary short. But, in some instances, he went with his gut over Entertainment Weekly.

Out of the five films nominated for best picture, Cheshire said he only saw "Juno" and "Michael Clayton."

The Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger is in the process of cutting Chesire a check for $100.

Staff writer Josh Eiserike can be reached at 703-878-8072.