The winners for the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards 2008 will be revealed at a star studded ceremony hosted by comedian and actor Rob Brydon at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London. Reporting from the red carpet and backstage with the stars will be TV presenter and model Emma Griffiths. The Sony Ericsson Empire Awards are chosen by readers of Empire magazine and its website, www.empireonline/awards2008.com, which makes them the only film awards this season to be voted for by British film fans.

Atonement and Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix lead the charge, both receiving a staggering six nominations. Nominated for Best British Film, Best Actress (Keira Knightley), Best Actor (James McAvoy), Best Director (Joe Wright), Best Newcomer (Saoirse Ronan) and the brand new The Sony Ericsson Soundtrack Award categories, Atonement proves its worth as a cinematic masterpiece.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix yet again proves spellbinding to film fans also receiving six nominations, including Best Film, Best Actor (Daniel Radcliffe), Best Actress (Emma Watson), Best Director (David Yates), Best Sci-fi/Fantasy, and The Sony Ericsson Soundtrack Award categories. In close pursuit are The Bourne Ultimatum and Hot Fuzz with four nominations each.

In the Best Movie category The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford duels with The Bourne Ultimatum and Ratatouille tries to cook up a storm against Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix and Zodiac for the coveted accolade. Can Stardust cast darkness over Sunshine and will 300 conquer Transformers and Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix for the Best Sci-Fi/ Fantasy Award?

With some fantastic British movies hitting the big screen this year The Best British Movie category remains as competitive as ever, with nominations going to Atonement, This Is England, Sunshine, Control and Hot Fuzz. Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum) is joined in the Best Director category by Joe Wright (Atonement), David Yates (Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix), Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz) and David Fincher (Zodiac).

Atonement stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy both receive nominations for the Best Actress/Best Actor awards, as do Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix duo Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe. Nominated alongside Watson and Knightley are Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart), Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth) and Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up).
McAvoy and Radcliffe are up against luminaries Matt Damon (The Bourne Ultimatum), Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz) and Gerard Butler (300).

2007 offered an array of mesmerising performances by gifted young actors and actresses, and the Best Newcomer category rewards them. Shia LaBeouf (Transformers) and Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) both receive nominations. They are joined by Thomas Turngoose for Brit flick This Is England, Sam Reily for Control and Gemma Arterton for the mischievous St. Trinians.

The Sony Ericsson Best Soundtrack Award is a new category that acknowledges outstanding film scores. This year’s nominations reflect the superb musical accompaniment of 2007 and include Atonement, Hot Fuzz, Sunshine, This Is England and Control.

Superbad, Hot Fuzz, Knocked Up, Ratatouille and Run Fat Boy Run made the films fans laugh the loudest and receive nominations in the award for Best Comedy, while the Best Horror nominees that had UK filmgoers’ leaping out of their seats are 30 Days Of Night, 28 Weeks Later, Saw IV, Death Proof and 1408.

In the Best Thriller category, will The Bourne Ultimatum bring down Zodiac or Disturbia, or will American Gangster hustle Eastern Promises?

Empire magazine’s editor Mark Dinning said: "Once again it is a fascinating and exciting list of nominees, that sophisticated films such as Atonement and Zodiac can rub up against blockbusters like 300 and Transformers proves that cinema audiences are a terrific judge of movies."

Managing Director John Harber from Sony Ericsson UK said: “Sony Ericsson is thrilled to be a part of these Awards for the fifth year running and to see such a great range of upcoming talent reflected in the nominations. It will be interesting to see if the fans choices match those of the critics.”

The Sony Ericsson Empire Awards 2008 will be broadcast on ITV2 on Monday 10th March at 9pm. The show will be produced by Initial (an Endemol Company) and Bauer London Lifestyle.

Monday 10 March 2008 9:00pm - 11:30pm on ITV2.