Awards season may be trudging along to some perceived finish line—will it be the Oscars in February, as is tradition, or will some statuette-mad voting body randomly announce plans to hold a ceremony in April or something equally evil?—but there are still surprises to be found in this year’s race.

Today’s announcement of the WGA Awards nominations is certainly a strong reminder of such surprises, as critical favorite Birdman is nowhere to be found among the Original Screenplay nominees, while Marvel’s own Guardians Of The Galaxy has handily upended plenty of predictions by being included in the Adapted Screenplay category. [ETA: Birdman, along with Selma and Theory Of Everything, was deemed inelegible for WGA recognition because it wasn’t made under the Guild’s Basic Agreement.] Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler appears to have edged out Birdman for a nomination, though the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring film has already picked up a slew of writing nominations, including an Independent Spirit nod and a handful of critics awards. Still, the screenplay hasn’t previously been considered a frontrunner, though this move by the WGA might change that perception.

As was expected (thanks to an earlier kerfuffle), Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash was nominated for a WGA Award, though the body broke with the Academy to declare the film—which is based on a previous short by Chazelle—an Original Screenplay, while the Oscar body is determined to deem it an Adapted choice. Given that disagreement, perhaps the Oscars will slip Birdman into Whiplash’s spot when it comes time to announce its own nominations (and, yes, that probably means that GOTG will be knocked out of the Adapted race).

The full list of nominations is as follows:

Original Screenplay

Boyhood, Written by Richard Linklater

Foxcatcher, Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman

The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness

Nightcrawler, Written by Dan Gilroy

Whiplash, Written by Damien Chazelle

Adapted Screenplay

American Sniper, Written by Jason Hall; Based on the book by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and James Defelice

Gone Girl, Screenplay by Gillian Flynn; Based on her novel

Guardians Of The Galaxy, Written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman; Based on the Marvel comic by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

The Imitation Game, Written by Graham Moore; Based on the book "Alan Turing: The Enigma" by Andrew Hodges

Wild, Screenplay by Nick Hornby; Based on the book by Cheryl Strayed

Documentary Screenplay

Finding Vivian Maier, Written by John Maloof & Charlie Siskel

The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, Written by Brian Knappenberger

Last Days in Vietnam, Written by Mark Bailey & Kevin McAlester

Red Army, Written by Gabe Polsky

The 2015 Writers Guild Awards will be held Feb. 14.