12 Years A Slave Wins Best Picture Oscar

by Helen Earnshaw | 3 March 2014

12 Years A Slave was crowned Best Picture at the 86th Academy Awards last night.

12 Years A Slave was the slight favourite for the evening's biggest prize, as it saw off the tough competition from Gravity.

Best Picture was just one of three wins for 12 Years A Slave, as Lupita Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress, while John Ridley won Best Adapted Screenplay.

While 12 Years A Slave scooped Best Picture, the night really belonged to Gravity, which won seven prizes: including Best Director Alfonso Cuaron.

Cuaron has been picking up Best Director prizes left, right, and centre, and he saw off the challenge from Steve McQueen, David O'Russell, Alexander Payne, and Martin Scorsese to win his first Oscar.

As expected, Gravity dominated the technical categories, winning the likes of Editing, Visual Effects, and Sound Editing.

While the acting categories have been a close run thing this year, the winners really do go as many expected.

Matthew McConaughey won his first Oscar as he scooped Best Actor for his role in Dallas Buyers Club. It was a great night for the biopic film as Jared Leto also won Best Supporting Actor.

Cate Blanchett may already have a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, but she has never won Best Actress... she has now as she triumphed for her performance in Blue Jasmine.

There was also more awards success for Frozen, as it won Best Animated Feature and Best Song for Let It Go.

The Best Animated Feature category was another tough one, as Frozen was nominated alongside The Croods, Despicable Me 2, Ernest & Celestine, and The Wind Rises.

12 Years A Slave is the movie that everyone has been talking about since it started screening on the festival circuit last year, and it is great to see it triumph.

It is such a moving and powerful story about survival and the strength of the human spirit, and it is only right that this story be recognised in this way.

Full List of Winners

Best Picture: 12 Years A Slave

Director: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)

Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years A Slave)

Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley (12 Years A Slave)

Original Screenplay: Spike Lee (Her)

Animated Feature: Frozen

Best Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty

Production Design: The Great Gatsby