Earlier today, I was flexing some of my Oscar-predicting muscle by saying that Sandra Bullock might have placed herself in the Best Actress conversation with her role in The Blind Side. What I haven’t talked about yet is the dearth of great female performances this year that might allow for a rather schmaltzy movie like The Blind Side to sneak in and get a nomination. Of course, this dearth does not include the two sensational ladies in Precious, lead Gabby Sibide and supporting star Mo’nique. Sibide is front and center in the new poster for Precious, which will serve as the film’s first leap into this year’s ‘For Your Consideration’ campaign.

Our friends at HitFix debuted the first poster:

Joining Precious in the early race to get the attention of Academy members is Pixar’s Up, which recently bought a spot on the front page of Daily Variety to kick-off their campaign not only for Best Animated Feature, but for Best Picture as well. Since its release in May, many a fan has called for Up to get one of the 10 Best Picture nominations, a stance I would support wholeheartedly. The only question is whether or not Academy members would vote for it to win both Best Picture and Best Animated Feature. I can’t see any scenario in which it wins both, which likely means that it will win Best Animated Feature, leaving Best Picture for a live-action movie.

Check out the Daily Variety ad for up below:

And finally, Focus Features is throwing the hats of the brothers Coen into the ring for their new movie, A Serious Man, one of the most intensely funny and gripping films of the year. Also, if there were an award for Best Ending — this film would easily earn a nomination. Don’t be surprised if A Serious Man earns the Coens yet another Best Picture or Best Director nod.

Behold, the very Serious poster below:

The posters for Up and A Serious Man are courtesy of Awards Daily. I would urge you to check out their Awards Poster Gallery for more, including looks at the Best Animated Feature poster for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and Henry Selick’s Coraline.