Bond - Skyfall Leads Britain's Empire Awards Nominations

The 23rd 007 adventure, which was recently named the highest grossing movie in British cinema history, will compete for honours including Best Film, Best British Film and Best Director for Sam Mendes, while Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench are nominated for the Best Actor/Actress prizes.

In the Best Film category, Skyfall faces competition from Avengers Assemble, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Dark Knight Rises and Django Unchained, while the other British Film contenders are Les Miserables, Dredd 3D, The Woman In Black and Sightseers.

British horror movie Sightseers is a surprise contender at this year's (13) awards show after landing four nominations, putting the low budget film up against some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters.

In the Best Actor category, James Bond Craig will do battle with Iron Man Robert Downey, Jr. (Avengers Assemble), along with Martin Freeman (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), and Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) and Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), while Best Actress nominee Dench also has to face competition from this year's (13) Academy Awards honourees.

She goes up against winners Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) and Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games), and nominees Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Naomi Watts (The Impossible).

Mendes has tough competition for the Best Director trophy from Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Joss Whedon (Avengers Assemble), Peter Jackson (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) and Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises).

The awards, which are decided by a public vote, will be handed out in London on 24 March (13).