As the 96th Academy Awards looms, who are Ireland's biggest contenders to take home a prize at next year’s event?

It was a record year for the country at last year’s Oscars, receiving 14 nominations in total.

This included two winners; Dubliner Richard Baneham for his visual effects on Avatar: The Way of Water and Ross White and Tom Berkeley’s An Irish Goodbye winning in the best short category.

There was disappointment last year though as Banshees of Inisherin returned home with nothing, after receiving nine nominations in total.

Some of the cast of The Banshees of Inisherin with Martin McDonagh (right) at the 79th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy in September 2022. Picture by: Independent Photo Agency Srl / Alamy Stock Photo

Cillian Murphy is believed to be a shoo-in for a nomination come January 23rd for playing the lead role in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.

He could also be joined by a number of other Irish stars in the Best Actor category if the Golden Globe nominations are anything to go off.

Barry Keoghan has been nominated for his work in Saltburn and Andrew Scott is in for All of Us Strangers.

Paul Mescal, another rising Irish talent, will also be hoping to get a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in All of Us Strangers.

Shortlist

The 2024 Oscars shortlist for ten categories was released last week and includes several more Irish hopefuls.

Flora and Son, which follows a working-class single mother in Dublin, has had two original songs written for the film nominated in the Best Original Song category.

These are High Life and Meet in the Middle which were both co-written by Dubliner John Carney.

Eve Hewson in the Apple TV+ film: Flora and Son. 25-9-23. Image supplied by LMKMEDIA.

Poor Things, starring Emma Stone and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, has been shortlisted in three categories; Makeup and Hairstyling, Visual Effects, and Original Score.

The flick was produced by Dublin-based film studio and production company Element Pictures and is scheduled to be released on January 12th.

The full list of nominations for the 96th Academy Awards will be released on January 23rd before the event itself takes place on March 10th.