Can You Beat the Crowd?

Congratulations, 2012 Crowd Beaters!

The Crowd set the bar very high this year, correctly predicting 19 out of 24 of those "spectacularly trivial" yet "paradoxically important" Academy Awards. That makes the achievement of our three crowd-beating winners all the more impressive.

Congratulations to grand prize Crowd-Beater Dion Blackler, of London, and runners-up Bart Randall of Los Angeles and Gabrielle Renoir of Columbus, OH, for their success.

Here are their acceptance speeches:

Grand prize (21 correct) Dion Blackler (aka DBibby) -- Favorite movie: 'Rear Window'

I'd like to thank the Academy, my agent, and the crowd! I'm a clinical psychologist in London, who reads more at work about awards season than I probably should. But it paid off I guess! Thanks guys!

Runnerup (20 correct) Gabrielle Renoir (aka LillyandGish) -- Favorite movie: 'Doctor Zhivago'

I'm a movie lover. What else? I love everything from silent films to the classics of the 30s and 40s, to the movies being made today. I love film noir, madcap comedies, romantic comedies, period pieces, biopics, dramas. If it's on a movie screen, chances are I've seen it, and I love it. I want to thank my parents for letting me spend almost all my free time in movie theatres while I was growing up, and my husband for letting me do the same today. And of course SRmedia for inviting us all to participate in the fun. This is the first year I've beaten the crowd, and I guess I finally had what it takes – a little luck and the right shade of red. Thank you!

Runnerup (20 correct) Bart Randall (aka snuggle4) -- Favorite movie: 'Manhattan'

On behalf of prognosticators everywhere I'd like to thank them for their efforts. I've been an Oscar junkie for many years, doing my studying and boning up on trends. Did you know for instance that every year since 1998 that at least one of the four acting winners has gone to someone who has played a real-life person? Or that with the exception of 1970, every time a Best Picture nominee is up for Visual Effects, it wins? It's this tireless regard to detail that enabled me to take the prize this year, so in the spirit of the year's Best Picture winner...MERCI!

Congratulations to everyone who made The Crowd so smart this year.

• See the list of top finishers
• Where to watch 2012 Oscar nominees now

Join us again next year for Can You Beat the Crowd?

Scene from Hugo

Can you outwit the "wisdom of the crowd" at this year's Oscars? This game pits your Oscar predictions against the combined savvy of a world-wide audience of movie fans!