The Alliance of Women Film Journalists has announced its list of nominees this year, with its own fair share of unique categories. The Best Film nominees were "Argo," "Lincoln" and "Zero Dark Thirty" (each also cited for Best Director). Check out the full list of nominees below. Winners will be announced next month. And, as always, keep track of the 2012-2013 film awards season via The Circuit.

Best Film
"Argo"
"Lincoln"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Director
Ben Affleck, "Argo"
Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis, "Lincoln"
John Hawkes, "The Sessions"
Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin, "Argo"
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"
Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams, "The Master"
Sally Field, "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"

Best Adapted Screenplay
"Argo"
"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Original Screenplay
"Amour"
"Moonrise Kingdom"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Editing
"Argo"
"Cloud Atlas"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Cinematography
"Life of Pi"
"The Master"
"Skyfall"

Best Film Music Or Score
"Argo"
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Animated Film
"Brave"
"Frankenweenie"
"ParaNorman"

Best Non-English-Language Film
"Amour"
"A Royal Affair"
"Rust and Bone"

Best Documentary
"The Gatekeepers"
"The Imposter"
"The Invisible War"
"Searching for Sugar Man"

Best Ensemble Cast
"Argo"
"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook"

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS (for women only)

Best Woman Director
Sarah Polley, "Take This Waltz"
Andrea Arnold, "Wuthering Heights"
Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Woman Screenwriter
Lucy Alibar (with Benh Zeitlin), "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Ava DuVernay, "Middle of Nowhere"
Zoe Kazan, "Ruby Sparks"
Sarah Polley, "Take This Waltz"

Kick Ass Award For Best Female Action Star
Gina Carano, "Haywire"
Anne Hathaway, "The Dark Knight Rises"
Jennifer Lawrence, "The Hunger Games"

Best Animated Female
Merida (Kelly Macdonald), "Brave"
Tooth (Isla Fisher), "Rise of the Guardians"
Vanellope (Sara Silverman), "Wreck-It Ralph"

Best Breakthrough Performance
Samantha Barks, "Les Misérables"
Ann Dowd, "Compliance"
Alicia Vikander, "A Royal Affair"
Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Actress Defying Age and Ageism
Judi Dench, "Skyfall"
Helen Mirren, "Hitchcock"
Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"

AWFJ Award For Humanitarian Activism -- Female Icon Award
Presented to an actress for the portrayal of the most positive female role model, or for a role in which she takes personal and/or career risks to plumb the female psyche and therefore gives us courage to plumb our own, and/or for putting forth the image of a woman who is heroic, accomplished, persistent, demands her rights and/or the rights of others.
- Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
- Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
- Judi Dench, "Skyfall"

Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry
Presented only when warranted to a female who has had a banner-making, record-breaking, industry-changing achievement during any given year — such as Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Director Oscar win, or for an actress having multiple outstanding films released during one year.
- Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"
- Jennifer Lawrence, "The Hunger Games" and "Silver Linings Playbook"
- Women Documentary Filmmakers, including Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady ("Detropia"), Lauren -Greenfield ("The Queen of Versailles"), Alison Klayman ("Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry") and Sarah Burns ("The Central Park Five")

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award
Sean Anders, "That’s My Boy"
Sacha Baron Cohen, "The Dictator"
Gabriele Muccino, "Playing For Keeps"

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent
Katherine Heigl, "One For The Money"
Nicole Kidman, "The Paperboy"
Reese Witherspoon, "This Means War"

Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn’t
"Anna Karenina"
"Cloud Atlas"
"Les Misérables"

Unforgettable Moment Award
"Argo" (The runway chase)
"Flight" (Crash sequence)
"Les Misérables (Anne Hathaway as Fantine singing "I Dreamed A Dream")
"Rust and Bone" (Marion Cotillard as Stephanie dancing in the wheelchair)
"Zero Dark Thirty" (Jessica Chastain as Maya says, “I’m the mother…”)

Best Depiction Of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction (include film title AND actors’ names)
"Anna Karenina" (Keira Knightly and Aaron Taylor-Johnson)
"Rust and Bone" (Marion Cotillard)
"The Sessions" (Helen Hunt and John Hawkes)

Sequel or Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made Award
"The Amazing Spider-Man"
"Red Dawn"
"Total Recall"

Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Leading Man and The Love Interest Award
"Flight" (Denzel Washington and Kelly Reilly…and Nadine Velazquez)
"Seeking a Friend For the End of the World" (Steve Carell and Keira Knightly)
"Silver Linings Playbook" (Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence)

Kristopher Tapley
Editor-at-Large

• Follow

Kristopher Tapley has covered the film awards landscape for over a decade. He founded In Contention in 2005. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Times of London and Variety. He begs you not to take any of this too seriously.