Mirren, Dench and Winslet Nominated for Oscars

The race for this year's best picture Oscar is shaping up as the most open contest in years after bookies' favourite Dreamgirls surprisingly failed to make the final cut.

Today's nominations for the 79th annual Academy Awards snubbed the Golden Globe-winning musical in favour of Babel, The Departed, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen. However, the film's makers can take a small crumb of comfort from the fact that Dreamgirls still technically leads the field with eight nominations in total.

As had been widely predicted, today's announcement spelled good news for British talent. Helen Mirren has already swept the board at the other award ceremonies for her performance in The Queen, and is the firm favourite to win the best actress Oscar. She was joined on the shortlist by fellow Britons Kate Winslet (for Little Children) and Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal), Meryl Streep (for The Devil Wears Prada) and Penelope Cruz (for Volver).

Two British film-makers, Stephen Frears and Paul Greengrass, were nominated in the best director category, while Irish-born Peter O'Toole is an outside bet to take his first best actor Oscar for his role in Roger Michell's Venus. But Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen, another Golden Globe winner, conspicuously failed to be nominated for the best actor award. He can console himself with a nod in the category of best adapted screenplay.

To no great surprise, Martin Scorsese received his sixth best director nomination for his work on the Boston gangster saga The Departed. The veteran film-maker will enter the final straight as the heavy favourite to take an award that many feel is long overdue. Forest Whitaker is similarly tipped to receive the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.

Scorsese's rivals for the best director award are Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu (Babel), Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima), Frears and Greengrass. Whitaker is up against O'Toole, Leonardo DiCaprio (for Blood Diamond), Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness) and surprise choice Ryan Gosling (for Half Nelson).

The nominations were announced at LA's Samuel Goldwyn theatre by Academy president Sid Ganis and former Oscar nominee Salma Hayek. The 79th annual Academy Awards take place on February 25.