The Oscars turn 75 next year. The Golden Globes are readying their 60th annual presentation.

So, to assist these old codgers, the newly formed, Seattle-based Parallax View: A Film Society -- a group of film enthusiasts, professionals and critics -- has stepped into the ring.

On Thursday, the group announced its first-ever awards, saying in a statement: "Alarmed by the dearth of year-end movie awards, the film critics of the Puget Sound area have raised their voices in unison for the first time. Twenty-four of the area's top critics have been polled for the first annual Seattle Film Critics Awards."

And the big winner -- despite its best picture snub by the Golden Globes -- was director Todd Haynes's straight-faced send-up of '50s Ross Hunter-like melodramas, "Far From Heaven," which won best picture and best actress for Julianne Moore. Haynes also won for best direction and screenplay.

The Seattle critics also created a special annual category, the "Living Legend" award, "to honor some long-cherished movie notable deserving of career recognition," according to the group.

This year's award goes to Maureen O'Hara, 82, who besides such classics as John Ford's "The Quiet Man" (with John Wayne) is seen every Christmas in the yuletide favorite "Miracle on 34th Street."

Other winners include best actor Daniel Day-Lewis ("Gangs of New York"), best supporting actress Bebe Neuwirth ("Tadpole") and best supporting actor Chris Cooper ("Adaptation").