Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Brian d’Arcy, Michael Keaton and John Slattery. (Kerry Hayes / Open Road Films)

It’s the most wonderful time of the movie year! Awards season is upon us, and area film critics like yours truly have been feverishly trying to catch up on the year in movies.

This morning the Washington Area Film Critics Association, of which I’m a member, announced its 2015 award winners. Unlike last year, when Boyhood and Birdman each took several awards, there is no category-wide standout.

This year’s top pick was Spotlight, which dramatized the Boston Globe‘s investigation into abuse in the Catholic Church. It matches the Los Angeles Film Critics Association‘s, while the New York Film Critics Circle awarded director Todd Haynes’ Patricia Highsmith adaptation Carol their top spot. Spotlight also won over local critics for best ensemble, but the best director vote went to Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller.

Other WAFCA winners include Leonardo DiCaprio as best actor for The Revenant (which opens here January 8), in which he is brutally attacked by a bear but not, as sensationalistic reports have insinuated, raped by one; and Saoirse Ronan as best actress for her performance in the period immigration drama Brooklyn (now playing in area theaters).

Stay tuned later this month for my own list, which will look very different from my esteemed colleagues’ choices.

THE 2015 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:

Best Film:
Spotlight

Best Director:
George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Actor:
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)

Best Actress:
Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)

Best Supporting Actor:
Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation)

Best Supporting Actress:
Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Spotlight

Best Youth Performance:
Jacob Tremblay (Room)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Emma Donoghue (Room)

Best Original Screenplay:
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley (Original Story by Pete Docter and Ronnie Del Carmen) (Inside Out)

Best Animated Feature:
Inside Out

Best Documentary:
Amy

Best Foreign Language Film:
Son of Saul

Best Production Design:
Production Designer: Colin Gibson, Set Decorator: Lisa Thompson (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (The Revenant)

Best Editing:
Margaret Sixel (Mad Max: Fury Road)

Best Original Score:
Jóhann Jóhannsson (Sicario)