CAPE WOMAN WALKS AWAY WITH OSCARS CONTEST WIN

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Paula Simpson of Cape Girardeau credits "pure luck" for her victory in the Southeast Missourian's "Pick the Oscars" contest.

For her winning effort, Simpson earned 20 Wehrenberg West Park Mall Cine movie tickets.

She was the only person out of 223 entries to correctly predict 8 out of 10 categories in the contest. However, it wasn't as easy as it might have seemed. Each of the 10 categories had five choices, for a total of 50 Oscar picks.

"It's so funny that I won, because I guessed. I really just guessed," said Simpson, who lives in Cape Girardeau.

"Pretty Woman was the only movie I had seen, and I didn't even vote for Julia Roberts.

"Some of the movies I hadn't even heard of," Simpson said. "I didn't go to see `Dances with Wolves' because it's three hours long, and I couldn't sit still that long."

Simpson, a patient care receptionist at St. Francis Medical Center, admitted she had heard critics discussing the award ceremony on television and used some of their recommendations in making her choices.

"But winning was pretty much of a surprise," Simpson said. "I had a list of my picks Tuesday morning and found out I only missed two."

Her only misses came in the original song and the best actress categories. Simpson picked "Blaze of Glory" in the song category and Angelica Huston ("The Grifters") in the actress category.

But she didn't expect that her entry would be the winner. "It was pretty much of a shock."

No one entering the contest correctly guessed all the categories correctly. In fact, 70 percent of the entrants guessed more than five categories incorrectly.

The two categories missed most often were best actress and best actor.

Missourian readers predicted Julia Roberts would win best actress for her role in "Pretty Woman." Kathy Bates captured the honor for her role in "Misery."

Readers also felt Kevin Costner deserved the best actor honor for his role in "Dances With Wolves." Jeremy Irons won for "Reversal of Fortune."