Gwyneth's triumph

She triumphed over Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep to scoop an Oscar. Now Gwyneth Paltrow is in the running for one of the biggest prizes in British theatre - the Evening Standard Theatre Award for best actress. Paltrow's mesmerising performance in Proof earlier this year garnered rave reviews and cemented her reputation as a skilled professional actress.

But if the 30-year-old Hollywood star is to add to her CV with the coveted Evening Standard award, she will have to triumph over brilliant performances from English actresses Clare Higgins and Helen McCrory. Higgins earned her nomination thanks to her turn as Ursula in the acclaimed National Theatre production of Vincent In Brixton, now transferred into the West End, while McCrory is named for her sensational portrayal of Chekhov's femme fatale Yelena in Uncle Vanya at the Donmar Warehouse.

Best actor will also be a hard-fought award this year. Tom Georgeson is one contender after his performance in Frozen, while Daniel Craig can thank his portrayal of a group of clones opposite Michael Gambon in The Royal Court's compelling premiere production of A Number.

Craig has been the toast of Hollywood recently thanks to his cracking turn in The Road To Perdition, the second film from director Sam Mendes. At our awards, though, Craig will be pitted against his director, Simon Russell Beale, who starred with typical brilliance in Mendes's two farewell productions as the Donmar's artistic director - Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night.

These swansong productions have earned Mendes a shot at this year's Sydney Edwards Award for best director. There is fierce competition, however, from two other gifted directors. Tim Carroll ' s outstanding Twelfth Night at The Globe and Dominic Cooke's anarchic Plasticine, upstairs at The Royal Court, give them the chance to trump Mendes.

Stage design can make or break a play, and this year's shortlisted best stage designer nominees are Stephen Brimson Lewis for Much Ado About Nothing, Bill Dudley for The Coast Of Utopia trilogy, and Ian Mac-Neil for his work on Plasticine, and also on playwright Caryl Churchill's new work at the Royal Court, A Number. Directed by Stephen Daldry, A Number wins Churchill a nomination for best play. Joining Churchill on the shortlist are Martin McDonagh for The Lieutenant Of Inishmore, and Peter Gill for The York Realist.

Three of the finest young writers are in line for the Charles Wintour Award for most promising playwright, named after the distinguished former editor of the Evening Standard, a passionate-theatregoer who instituted the awards.

Attached to the prize is the sum of £30,000, half of which is donated by Anna Wintour in memory of her father and in recognition of new writing to the theatre. The sum is matched by Lord Rothermere, chairman of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc, publisher of the Evening Standard.

The shortlisted writers are Anthony Neilson for Stitching Charlotte Eilenberg for The Lucky Ones; and Vassily Sigarev for Plasticine.

Promising actors in our outstanding newcomer category are Jochum Ten Haaf for Vincent In Brixton; Alison Pargeter for Damsels In Distress, and Jake Gyllenhaal for This Is Our Youth.

Finalists in the Carlton Television Best Musical category are Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams; the foot-tapping extravaganza My One And Only; and The Full Monty.

The Evening Standard Theatre Awards will be presented at a lunchtime ceremony at The Savoy on Monday 25 November, and broadcast by Carlton Television at 11.30pm on Thursday 28 November.