Hollywood's original awards site was launched in 2000 by America's leading awards expert, Tom O'Neil, author of "Movie Awards," "The Emmys" and "The Grammys" (Penguin Putnam Books). In 2005, Gold Derby was licensed by the Los Angeles Times and folded into the launch of the Times' new awards site TheEnvelope.com where the Gold Derby brand was rebooted as a blog and the message boards received a new home. In November, 2010, GoldDerby.com was relaunched as a stand-alone site owned by O'Neil and supported by the Times, which sold its advertising. O'Neil continued to write for the Times for the first year of GoldDerby.com's reboot, but left the paper in 2011 in order to focus full time on his site. (Read his farewell to the Times here.)

Gold Derby famously presents three sets of Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and other predictions for comparison and analysis: experts (journalists from Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, etc.), Gold Derby's editors and regular site users. The predictions are listed in various charts, then aggregated into racetrack odds and percentages that are applied by site users to wager points. Gold Derby thus operates as a true racetrack – for entertainment gaming purposes only. Site users may compete individually or in leagues. Scores are issued after every awards competition and winners are ballyhooed.

Gold Derby also operates as a social network, inviting users to make friends and communicate with each other much like they do on Facebook. They can post photo albums, top 10 lists and vote for Gold Derby's own TV and film awards.

Gold Derby also presents the latest in award news, photos and celebrity interviews.

BELOW: A brief simple guide to how Gold Derby works -- including how you can log your predictions and compete against the experts.

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TOM O'NEIL

Tom O'Neil is the only journalist who has devoted his career to studying all major showbiz awards. His books "The Emmys" and "The Grammys," published by Penguin Putnam, were the first in-depth studies of those awards and their histories and "Movie Awards" was the first tome to track the year-by-year histories of Hollywood's 12 major film kudos.

O'Neil's special interest is how the awards affect each other, particularly the top film prizes that can be viewed as one single gold derby with the Oscars as the finish line. Consider what happened to "Chariots of Fire," for example. In 1981, it emerged from obscurity to win awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the National Board of Review, then fell behind "Reds" and "Atlantic City" at the film critics' awards and Golden Globes, then trotted ahead as best-picture champ at the Oscars.

O'Neil has written about the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, Golden Globes and other showbiz awards for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, London Times, Washington Post, Reader's Digest, TV Guide and scores of other top media outlets. He's often quoted by the Associated Press, Reuters, USA Today and other outlets plus he appears on "Entertainment Tonight," "Access Hollywood," "Extra," CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, BBC and E!

O'Neil has not only predicted such major upsets as Susan Lucci's ultimate Daytime Emmy victory in  1999, but he's helped other stars to win them. Sarah Jessica Parker, for example, finally won a Primetime Emmy in 2004 her final year on "Sex and the City" thanks in large part to accepting O'Neil's advice on which episode to submit to judges.

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: "Handicapping everything from the Oscars to the Primetime Emmys, awards guru Tom O'Neil culls opinions from entertainment journos. Impressive content. Professional polish. Recommended."

USA TODAY: "Hot site. Bet on GoldDerby.com."

CYNTHIA NIXON, SEX AND THE CITY: "Thank you, Gold Derby, for helping me to win my Emmy. If only I had listened to you earlier I would've won more!"

US WEEKLY: "Get the inside scoop at this awards-show-pundit site where top critics predict who will triumph. Disagree with their picks? Speak your mind."