'Star Trek's' Zachary Quinto and 'Hangover's' Bradley Cooper find award season love

Even Bradley Cooper can't believe he was named ShoWest's Comedy Star of the Year Award.  Well, probably not, but we can hope, right?

Oh, Hollywood Awards.  How you taunt me. You've already cemented your reputation as the "buy a table studio consultant and/or publicist and you're in" awards show, but your latest  "winners" announcement is just head scratching to say the least.

The Hollywood Awards have already announced awards for Robert De Niro, "An Education's" Carey Mulligan, "The Hurt Locker's" Jeremy Renner and many other Oscar contenders, but today the group released even more winners including:

Hollywood Supporting Actress Award: Julianne Moore

Hollywood Comedy Award: Bradley Cooper

Hollywood Producer Award: Ryan Kavanaugh

Hollywood Spotlight Awards: Shoreh Arghdashloo, Melanie Lanksy, Paul Schnieder and, um, Zachary Quinto

First off, this is the second time this year Cooper has been given a bogus, er, unexpected recognition for his comedic talents. He first accepted a trophy for his comedy work at ShoWest and that was before "The Hangover" came out (sort of typical of most ShoWest trophies). Now, five month later he's the next Jim Carrey? Yes, because when you think of all the reasons you laughed in "The Hangover" Cooper -- the ultimate straight man -- was it.  Ed Helms? Zack Galifianakis? Sure, they were funnier, but perhaps they don't have as powerful a publicist, don't care or Kevin James was unavailable. Plus, shouldn't starring in the universally disliked "All About Steve" automatically disqualify someone for this award?  We rest our case. (And no, we don't dislike Mr. Cooper, quite the contrary. We just believe in fair play.)

Surprisingly, the recognition for Relativity Media's Kavanaugh is well deserved.  He's not a creative producer, but without his company's financing agreements films such as "Hancock," "Mamma Mia" and "Step Brothers" -- just to name a few -- would have had a much harder time getting greenlit.

Moore, of course, is slowly joining the ranks of great actresses who may never win an Oscar.  Do you know if she's nominated for her fine work in "A Single Man" it will be her fifth Oscar nod without a win?  Unfortunately, this year's competition will make it extremely difficult for her to break through.  At least she can take solace Kate Winslet finally won a statue last year on her sixth attempt.

Your guess is as good as mine as to what a "spotlight" award is. In fact, I'm not sure even the recipients can figure it out.  In any event, Schneider is being touted so he can possibly sneak into the best supporting actor race for "Bright Star," Lansky for her role as Matt Damon's sympathetic wife in "The Informant," Argdashloo is waging an underground campaign for best actress recognition for "The Stoning of Soraya M." and "Star Trek's" Quinto?  Not really sure why he's getting the honor.  Perhaps the Hollywood Awards wanted to give "Trek" some love and he was the only name who would participate?  Either way, sorry Trekkers he's not a serious best supporting actor candidate.  His co-star Karl Urban?  No joke, if they put a little love behind  his candidacy the category is so weak this year it's absolutely possible.

For anyone willing to shell down some serious cash for a table or wants to sneak in the back to watch, The Hollywood Awards will take place on Oct. 26 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  Enjoy.

  For constant updates on awards season and entertainment news follow Gregory Ellwood on Twitter at Twitter.com/HitFixGregory