Nearly 2,000 people entered our contest to predict the 2015 Primetime Emmy Awards and three users reaped the highest scores on our Emmys leaderboard: DemitriMakeig in the win position, Dsps84 in the place position and Chad in the show position. Since all three are eligible, they have won Amazon gift certificates as per our contest rules. So, how did they pull off such an impressive feat? Scroll down to hear their prediction secrets and tips in their own words.
Emmy Awards: Complete list of winners
Screen name: DemitriMakeig
Real name: Demitri Thomas Makeig
Rank: 1st place with 68.75% accuracy and 3,569 points
Contest prize: $500 Amazon gift certificate
City: Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Aspiring filmmaker
Prediction secrets and tips: “In my experience, predicting the Emmys is the most difficult award to get right. I first see what the Experts think since they’re the most experienced. I look at the guild awards and Critics’ Choice, which seem to influence voters a great deal. For most of the voting season, the Editors had ‘Veep’ for Directing and ‘Transparent’ for Writing. I understood why that was a top choice, but I chose to switch them because Jill Soloway won the DGA for the pilot and lost the WGA to ‘Veep.’ ‘Election Night’ was such an incredible script that I could not see it losing. I have been behind Uzo Aduba and ‘Orange is the New Black’ since its first season nominations. Her character embodies the show and she steals the scenes in every episode. I also believe the voters were trying to make up for the lack of nominations ‘Orange’ received. Lena Headey was outstanding, but ‘Game of Thrones’ won every other award. Overall, I think this year’s winners group is one of the show’s best. I’m very happy that there were a lot of women who won the non-performing above-the-line awards, and multiple women of color who won performing awards.” See Makeig’s Emmy predictions.
Emmy post mortem: Did rule changes make or break the awards?
Screen name: Dsps84
Real name: Alexander Colalucci
Rank: 2nd place with 68.75% accuracy and 3,183 points
Contest prize: $300 Amazon gift certificate
City: Mahwah, New Jersey
Occupation: College student
Prediction secrets and tips: “I still can’t believe I placed second in this year’s predictions. Unbelievable! his was my favorite set of winners in my five years of Emmy watching. I’m a big fan of the new voting system, and felt that the wins for ‘Veep’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ were a long time coming. My secret was to predict nominees from shows nominated in the top series categories. The new system does not favor small shows, so the likes of Tatiana Maslany, Kyle Chandler and Will Forte didn’t make sense. My two exceptions to this rule were Viola Davis and Allison Janney. The former won at SAG and the latter is an Emmy darling. I was also happy with Jon Hamm and Jeffrey Tambor winning. I predicted Amy Schumer because I thought they would spread the wealth a little. Andy Samberg did a good job as host. Much better than Seth Meyers last year, but not as consistent as Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel. I laughed more at his filmed skits than his opening monologue.” See Colalucci’s Emmy predictions.
Emmy live blog: Winners, OMG jawdroppers, snubs & snark
Screen name: Chad
Real name: Chad Pridgen
Rank: 3rd place with 65.63% accuracy and 7,945 points
Contest prize: $200 Amazon gift certificate
City: Baltimore, Maryland
Occupation: I.T. consultant
Prediction secrets and tips: “I’m a huge ‘Game of Thrones’ fan, which helped this year. Additionally, I thought that ‘Mother’s Mercy’ was such a standout episode that it would win over Emmy voters for the big categories. Which it did, other than for Headey, possibly because she had to compete against Emilia Clarke. I wish next year that ‘GoT’ would take whomever has the most minutes on-screen that season and submit them as the year’s Lead Actress/Actor for the show, so that they don’t all have to fight it out in the Supporting categories. But what put me into the Top 3 in this year’s predictions is my love for Regina King. For years, I’ve been frustrated that her performances have been overlooked — how was she not ever nominated for ‘Southland’? Regina hits it out of the park as a dramatic actress no matter the role, and has done so for years. When I saw her nomination for ‘American Crime,’ I hoped that the voters would also consider the many sublime performances she’s given that have somehow flown under Emmy’s radar. And what do you know — they did! Here’s hoping for even better roles for Regina — and perhaps a nomination for Kit Harington for his work next year on ‘Game of Thrones.'” See Pridgen’s Emmy predictions.
Emmys: TV shows (‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Olive Kitteridge’)
and networks (HBO, NBC) with most wins
