Awards season officially kicks off today with the Academy Awards nominees being announced this morning and the Critics Choice Awards airing live on The CW tonight.

Entertainment reporter Sam Rubin will host on behalf of his fellow critics who chose to honor comedic mastermind Judd Apatow with this year’s Genius Award. So why did Sam and his peers pick Judd?

“Two billion dollars in movies to his credit. ‘Knocked Up’ obviously the biggest one, but there’s so many others where he was either directly or indirectly involved. Lots of things that make us all laugh he touches directly,” Sam tells us.

Sam also told his pick for film of the year goes to Les Miserable which seems to be set for a stellar run this awards season.