Even though The Departed lost, I still think it's the frontrunner. Luckily, the Hollywood Foreign Press have nothing to do with the Academy Awards.

Born Jennifer Kate Hudson on September 12, 1981, in Chicago, Illinois, she earned minor attention as one of the twelve finalists (she came in an underwhelming sixth runner-up) on the third season of the amazingly popular FOX reality/talent-search TV series in 2004. Prior to this Hudson grew up singing in gospel choirs. Her relative inexperience included acting in community theater productions, singing on cruise lines and touring for Disney in "Hercules: The Musical". Her naturally raw, soulful vocals had no formal musical training to speak of. Admittedly, the songs that tested her on the FOX talent show were frequently ill-advised but evidence of her greatness certainly peaked through. She, along with the other two African-American powerhouse singers Fantasia Barrino and La Toya London were the shows's own version of the Dreamgirls and were expected to be the final three when Jennifer was unceremoniously whittled out of the competition. Perhaps her plus size, lack of viewer popularity and her overly gospel style were out of sync with the "American Idol" image.

Controversy
Both Jennifer Hudson and LaToya London, part of the final twelve, were eliminated, despite their popularity. After London was eliminated, (Hudson was first) many believe that they were kicked off because of racism, despite the fact that a black woman beat a white woman in the final.