There were a number of pleasing surprises and shocking omissions for Oscar fanatics to take in as the Academy unveiled their list of nominations for 2013.

Once again, the historical drama Lincoln leads the pack with a dominant twelve nods, including the prestigious Best Picture gong and a sixth directing mention for renowned filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

Additionally, Daniel Day-Lewis is bidding to win his third Best Actor award for his portrayal of President Abraham Lincoln, while co-stars Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones are shortlisted for their respective supporting turns as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln and Thaddeus Stevens.

The fantasy drama Life of Pi also performed well with a sublime eleven nominations, including Best Director for Ang Lee, while the musical epic Les Misérables and the romantic dramedy Silver Linings Playbook scored a healthy eight nods apiece.

The other films in contention for the Best Picture award are the French drama Amour (five noms), the indie drama Beasts of the Southern Wild (four noms), the brutal western Django Unchained (five noms), and fact-based political thrillers Argo (seven noms) and Zero Dark Thirty (five noms).

From those contenders, Silver Linings Playbook achieved a remarkable feat by becoming the first film since Reds (1981) to earn Oscar nods in all four acting categories, with Bradley Cooper (as Patrizio “Pat” Solitano Jr.) and Jennifer Lawrence (as Tiffany Maxwell) up for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively. Additionally, Robert De Niro (as Patrizio “Pat” Solitano) receives his first Oscar mention since 1992 in Supporting Actor, while Jacki Weaver (as Dolores Solitano) is surprisingly shortlisted for Supporting Actress.

Remarkably, the Best Director line-up produced a number of shocks as early frontrunner Ben Affleck (Argo) and previous category winner Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) were surprisingly ignored in favour of Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke (Amour) and indie newcomer Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild). Both men are also in contention for writing gongs alongside fellow directing nominee David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook).

Elsewhere, nine-year-old newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis (as Hushpuppy) and 85-year-old French veteran Emmanuelle Riva (as Anne Laurent) set two records in the Best Actress category. Wallis becomes the youngest person to be nominated for her breakthrough role in Beasts of the Southern Wild, while Riva becomes the oldest woman to contest the award for her powerful performance in Amour.

The rest of the Best Actress line-up is completed by early Oscar frontrunner Jessica Chastain (as Maya Harris) in Zero Dark Thirty and Naomi Watts (as Maria Bennett) in The Impossible.

Meanwhile, Best Actor candidate Hugh Jackman earns his first Oscar nod for his turn as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, while co-star Anne Hathaway is a heavy favourite to win Supporting Actress for her effective role as Fantine.

Despite missing out on a Best Picture nod, the psychological drama The Master scored a hat-trick of acting nominations for stars Joaquin Phoenix (as Freddie Quell), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (as Lancaster Dodd) and Amy Adams (as Peggy Dodd).

The rest of the acting performers in contention for Oscar glory are Alan Arkin (as Lester Siegel) in Argo, Helen Hunt (as Cheryl Cohen-Greene) in The Sessions, Christoph Waltz (as Dr. King Schultz) in Django Unchained and Denzel Washington (as William “Whip” Whitaker Sr.) in Flight.

In the technical fields, the James Bond hit Skyfall bagged a decent five nominations, including an expected Original Song nod for British artist Adele for her haunting rendition of “Skyfall” while the Marvel blockbuster The Avengers and the Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey are among those in contention for honours.

Elsewhere, the Best Animated Film line-up sees Pixar’s Brave and Disney’s Wreck-It-Ralph go head-to-head with Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, and Aardman animation The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Meanwhile, the likes of Amour and Searching for Sugar Man are among the leading contenders seeking to land success in the Foreign Language Film and Documentary Feature categories.

One of the more unique noms of the day sees Oscar host (and Family Guy creator) Seth MacFarlane nab a songwriting nomination for his work on the jazzy song ‘Everybody Needs a Best Friend’ from the hit comedy Ted.

Once again, a variety of films were completely overlooked by the Academy, including the DC Comics blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, the British comedy-drama The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the fantasy epic Cloud Atlas and the western thriller Lawless.

Additionally, the notable acting snubs included Javier Bardem (Skyfall), Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone), Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained), John Hawkes (The Sessions), Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy), Dame Helen Mirren (Hitchcock), and Dame Maggie Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel).

The 85th Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday 24 February.

The full list of nominations are below (winner predictions in yellow):

BEST PICTURE
AMOUR
ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
ZERO DARK THIRTY

BEST DIRECTOR
Michael Haneke, AMOUR
Ang Lee, LIFE OF PI
David O. Russell, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Steven Spielberg, LINCOLN
Benh Zeitlin, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain, ZERO DARK THIRTY
Jennifer Lawrence, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Emmanuelle Riva, AMOUR
Quvenzhané Wallis, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Naomi Watts, THE IMPOSSIBLE

BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Daniel Day-Lewis, LINCOLN
Hugh Jackman, LES MISÉRABLES
Joaquin Phoenix, THE MASTER
Denzel Washington, FLIGHT

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, THE MASTER
Sally Field, LINCOLN
Anne Hathaway, LES MISÉRABLES
Helen Hunt, THE SESSIONS
Jacki Weaver, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, ARGO
Robert De Niro, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Philip Seymour Hoffman, THE MASTER
Tommy Lee Jones, LINCOLN
Christoph Waltz, DJANGO UNCHAINED

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ARGO (Chris Terrio)
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Benh Zeitlin & Lucy Alibar)
LIFE OF PI (David Magee)
LINCOLN (Tony Kushner)
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (David O. Russell)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
AMOUR (Michael Haneke)
DJANGO UNCHAINED (Quentin Tarantino)
FLIGHT (John Gatins)
MOONRISE KINGDOM (Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola)
ZERO DARK THIRTY (Mark Boal)

BEST EDITING
ARGO
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
ZERO DARK THIRTY

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
ANNA KARENINA
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
SKYFALL

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA
LES MISÉRABLES
LINCOLN
MIRROR MIRROR
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
HITCHCOCK
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
LES MISÉRABLES

BEST SOUND MIXING
ARGO
LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
SKYFALL