The 2014 awards season is in full swing with the critics circles starting to announce their winners (or nominations first). The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association has nominated Meryl as Best Actress for “August: Osage County”, alongside Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Judi Dench (Philomena) and Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks). “August” has also received a nomination for Best Acting Ensemble. They will announce their winners on December 09. Then, the Satellite Awards have nominated Meryl as well. Thanks to Frank and Alvaro for the heads-up.

The Actors Hall of Fame Foundation today announced that 15 international award winning actors will be inducted into The Actors Hall of Fame on Sunday, February 9, 2014 at 2pm in Culver City. The 2014 Inductees are: Julie Andrews, Robert DeNiro, Judi Dench, Robert Duvall, Kirk Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Olivia de Havilland, Hal Holbrook, James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, William H. Macy, Maggie Smith and Meryl Streep. A special performance by The Hobart Shakespeareans, a class of 5th graders from Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles, under the guidance of their National Medal of Arts winning teacher, Ralph Esquith will be one the highlights of the Induction celebration. For more information and tickets, please visit their official website.

As previously reported, the cast of “August: Osage County” has been honored as Best Enemble cast at the Hollywood Film Awards. Julia Roberts was honored as Best Supporting Actress as well. Unfortunately, Meryl was a no-show at the ceremony, but most of her castmembers attended and took the stage to accept the award. You can watch their speech, held by Chris Cooper and Margo Martindale here.

According to Variety, Meryl Streep has been tapped to receive the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s annual Monte Cristo award, given each year to a legit creative singled out for distinguished contributions to the theater. Streep, who started out in theater before launching into film, has long stayed connected to the theater industry over the years, appearing in Shakespeare in the Park outings “Mother and Courage and her Children” (in 2006) and “The Seagull” (in 2001) and signing on as a presenting producer for the Broadway run of “Bridge and Tunnel” (in 2006). Last year she played Juliet opposite Kevin Kline’s Romeo in the Public Theater’s one-night-only reading of “Romeo and Juliet.” Streep will receive the Monte Cristo award — to be presented to her by actor Joe Grifasi, another O’Neill alum who was also her classmate at the Yale School of Drama — at an April 21 ceremony in Gotham. Many thanks to Glenn, Frank, Juha and Alvaro for the heads-up!

The cast of August: Osage County will receive the Hollywood Ensemble Acting Award at the 17th annual Hollywood Film Awards, the first awards show of the 2013 season, on Oct. 21 at the Beverly Hilton, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. John Wells’ big-screen adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Tony- and Puliter Prize-winning play features a star-studded cast, including Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Julianne Nicholson, Juliette Lewis, Dermot Mulroney, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin, Sam Shepard and Misty Upham. August’s producers include George Clooney and Grant Heslov, who also produced last year’s best picture Oscar winner, Argo. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

GoldDerby has posted some surprising details for the 2014 awards season. Two years after winning Best Actress for “The Iron Lady,” Streep has agreed to drop down to the supporting race for her role as Violet, the pill-popping, booze-swilling momma in “August: Osage County,” a Weinstein Company source tells Gold Derby. That means Streep will compete against Oprah as the hooch-guzzling wife of the title star of “The Butler,” which is also a Weinstein flick. Hmmm … what is Harvey thinking? Streep’s move is a shockeroo considering that role won Best Actress at the 2008 Tony Awards when Deanna Dunagan performed it on Broadway. Dunagan beat her costar Amy Morton, who portrayed Violet’s frazzled daughter Barbara. Now Julia Roberts, in the role of Barbara on screen, seems to have a clearer shot at a Best Actress victory without risking a split of “August” votes in that category. Streep’s gracious move may be good news for Roberts, but it’s rotten luck for “August” costar Margo Martindale, who portrays the role of Violet’s sister Mattie, which won the Tony Award for Best Featured (or Supporting) Actress for Rondi Reed on stage. Now past Emmy champ Martindale (“Justified”) must not only face off against Oprah, but Streep, too. Let’s see if they don’t change their mind once award season comes closer. Thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

According to the New York Times, Meryl Streep will present and award at the Obie Awards ceremony on May 20 at Webster Hall in the East Village. She will be presenting the lifetime achievement Obie to Lois Smith and Frances Sternhagen. Ms. Smith is a veteran of Broadway, television and Hollywood who played the mother, Mable Murphy, in Sam Shepard’s “Heartless,” which opened at Pershing Square Signature Center last August. Ms. Sternhagen has also had a long career in film, television and theater. She can currently be seen as Rose, the car-crashing mother in Liz Flahive’s “The Madrid,” a Manhattan Theater Club production at City Center Stage I. The co-hosts at the Obie Awards will be Jessica Hecht and Jeremy Shamos. Many thanks to Glenn for the heads-up.

A video clip of Meryl presenting the Best Actor Oscar to Daniel Day-Lewis has been added to the video archive, alongside some wonderful HD captures from the show (with many thanks to my friend Lindsey for contributing them) as well as additional pictures from the show and the press room. Enjoy the new uploads.

For this year’s Academy Awards, Meryl Streep took the easy route (the backdoor instead of the red carpet), before taking the stage to present the Best Actor Academy Award to Daniel Day-Lewis. So far, over 100 pictures from the show and the press room have been added to the image library, with more to follow. Edit: Additional 70 pictures from the show and press room have been added. A video of Meryl’s presentation and screencaptures will be added as time permits.

The Academy Awards are taking place tonight and Meryl, alongside an array of celebrities, is announced to be a presenter. Her history with the Academy Awards is as long as her career itself, so let’s have a (long overdue) look at her previous appearances at the ceremonies from 1979 to 2012 in this most recently added flipbook. Feel free to discuss your favorite Oscar appearance – or gown – in the comments.

Additionally, if you want to impress your friends and fellow Oscar-watchers tonight with some must-know, unnecessary knowledge of Meryl’s Oscar history, have a look at this collection of bits:

The fact that Meryl has received 17 acting nominations sounds much already, but her films together have received a whopping 99 Academy Award nominations. Combined, her films have won 27 Academy Awards in various categories. Six of Meryl’s co-stars have won Oscars for their performances: Vanessa Redgrave (Julia), Jason Robards (Julia), Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter), Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer), Chris Cooper (Adaptation) and Nicole Kidman (The Hours). 16 of her co-stars have received nominations: Jane Fonda (Julia), Maximilian Schell (Julia), Robert De Niro (The Deer Hunter), Mariel Hemingway (Manhattan), Jane Alexander (Kramer vs. Kramer), Justin Henry (Kramer vs. Kramer), Cher (Silkwood), Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa), Jack Nicholson (Ironweed), Diane Keaton (Marvin’s Room), Nicolas Cage (Adaptation), Julianne Moore (The Hours), Ed Harris (The Hours), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), Amy Adams (Doubt) and Viola Davis (Doubt).

Three of Meryl’s films have won the coveted Best Picture Oscar: The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs. Kramer and Out of Africa. Two more films have been nominated in the Best Picture category: Julia and The Hours. An honorable mention goes to Fantastic Mr. Fox, which received a nomination Best Animated Feature. The film with the most Oscar wins is Out of Africa, winning seven and followed by Kramer vs. Kramer and The Deer Hunter, both winning five. Her career’s biggest “losing” films are The Hours, which only won one award out of nine nominations, Julia, winning three out of nine and followed by both The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Silkwood, losing each of their five nominations. The longest time span that Meryl went without being nominated is a mere four years – between 1991 and 1996. The only time Meryl didn’t attend the ceremony in a year in which she was nominated was 1991. This year she was nominated for Best Actress in “Postcards from the Edge”. The film’s song “I’m Checking Out”, which Meryl sang in the film, was nominated as well. Due to her pregnancy, Meryl skipped the ceremony. Singer Reba McEntire stepped in to perform “I’m Checking Out” at the Academy Awards. Unfortunately neither the song nor the performance won in their respective categories.

Be sure to find coverage of Meryl’s appearance tonight here on Simply Streep (in case she’s definately there, after canceled appearances at the Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards ;-)