At last year’s Academy Awards, the most contended category, without a doubt, belonged to the Best Actor nominees – it was an all-out-brawl. The race was so heated, many fine performances didn’t even make it into the selection. Each performance that was nominated was individually so strong, it could have won had it fallen in a different year. This year, that guerilla warfare belongs to the women. Below are the females who already have been tipped for nomination, and, as you can see, we already have more than five.

Eight ladies and only five slots to fill – ignoring any surprise performances that could still be ahead of us. What will we do? All we need is Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench to cart out two other stellar performances and the choice becomes impossible. Although I do not know who will break through and claim the nominations – except Cate Blanchett – I do believe that any of these ladies, whoever they end up being, will have earned it. And the wait continues.

Kate Winslet

Four-time nominee Kate Winslet falls into that very wonderful category of “her time.” She is already praised for her astonishing portrayal in “Little Children,” a film about a suburban mother entering into an affair with her neighbor with violent consequences. The academy can’t go on much longer without recognizing her contribution to Hollywood, and this could be the one to do it. If Helen Mirren doesn’t snag it, Winslet will be the runner-up. At the very least, we owe her for making “Titanic” bearable.

Cate Blanchett

Honestly, Blanchett rarely misses the mark. And the academy loves her – who doesn’t? She starred in “Babel,” which already whispers Best Picture. Add to that the upcoming period dramas “The Good German” and “Notes On A Scandal” with academy-beloved Judi Dench, you think her chances have improved. Yet, she has a trump card up her sleeve: “Little Fish,” which has already garnished her three Best Actress awards at various film festivals. Set in Australia, the film follows Tracy Heart, a former heroin addict who is sucked back into her former life by ex-boyfriend Jonny (Dustin Nguyen). Although she probably won’t win Best Actress, her nomination is all but guaranteed.

Penelope Cruz

Is there life after Tom Cruise? Apparently so. In “Volver,” Cruz’s character returns to her hometown for a funeral, only to be visited by her mother’s ghost who wants to fix her daughter’s life.

Cruz won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for this movie. I mention this only because the Cannes Film Festival hates Hollywood. So to garnish a Hollywood icon with such a prestigious award can only mean one thing: She’s just that good.

Maggie Gyllenhaal

In “Sherrybaby,” Gyllenhaal returns to her home in New Jersey after a three-year prison sentence to re-establish relations with her young daughter, only to discover returning to her former life is far harder than she envisioned. You just want to go up and hug her – then slap her right after.

Emotionally wrecked and completely helpless, it takes true talent to pull off such polar opposites, evoking loathing, pity and love effortlessly.

Although I doubt very much this is an Oscar win, I think it is time she was at least recognized for her work. And this is the film to do just that.

Kirsten Dunst

“Marie Antoinette” was booed at the Cannes Film Festival, but the truth is only French critics were booing, as was expected. “Lost In Translation” director Sofia Coppola set her sights on the ill-fated Marie “let them eat cake” Antoinette and her rise to power at age 19 as the wife of Louis XVI, the last king of France, before the French Revolution. Like so many of her peers, Dunst has often been overlooked for her work. Maybe a period beheading can much improve her shot at Oscar gold.

Helen Mirren

Having scooped the Emmy and critics adoration for her portrayal of Elizabeth I, Academy Award nominee Mirren now adorns the crown of the second Elizabeth, Great Britain’s current monarch, in “The Queen.” Set in the days after Princess Diana’s death, we witness a glimpse of the private life of Her Majesty Elizabeth II and her struggle with Prime Minister Tony Blair. Mirren won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her portrayal and is set to win much, much more. Critics love her, and to follow her phenomenal work as Elizabeth I with this only adds weight to her work.

Meryl Streep

The most nominated actor of all time, there is a reason she is in a class all her own. Carting out another wonderful performance as the super witch Miranda Priestly in the summer hit “The Devil Wears Prada.” As the ruthless and cynical editor of Runway, New York’s biggest fashion magazine, she torments her newest assistant Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) all the while looking fab-u lous. I suspect she might head for safer ground in a Best Supporting Actress bid, having found too many chicks in the pond, but a nomination for Best Actress would also be well deserved. Streep, we are not worthy.

Sigourney Weaver

In “Snow Cake,” Weaver plays a high-functioning autistic woman who befriends a man (Alan Rickman) who is traumatized after a fatal car accident. Not a laugh-a-minute movie, as you can tell. Weaver is yet another of those wonderful actresses never honored by the academy, despite having previously received three academy nominations. Anyone who earns an Oscar nomination for obliterating aliens while still acting flawlessly deserves our respect.