Which 2007 Tony Pundit Had the Clearest Crystal Ball?

Every year Broadway journalists try to predict the Tony Award winners--with varying degrees of success. There were some hotly contested categories this year and a lot of close calls. Which pundit had the clearest crystal ball? This year, Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek predicted the most Tony Award winners for the second year in a row with 18, only picking three categories incorrectly. Jesse McKinley of The New York Times was a close second, with 17 correct predictions.

Entertainment Weekly scribe Melissa Rose Bernardo has the distinction of being the only journalist to predict Jeff Whitty of Avenue Q would win Best Book, which he did. Not one pundit predicted Best Musical winner Avenue Q would take home that award, all of them predicted Wicked.

Here is a more complete picture of how each pundit did:

Melissa Rose Bernardo, Entertainment Weekly*-- 12 out of 16 correct=75%
David Cote/Adam Feldman, Time Out New York--12 out of 16 correct=75%
Sherry Eaker, Backstage--16 out of 21 correct=76%
Elysa Gardner, USA Today*--11 out of 16 correct=69%
John Heilpern, The New York Observer--8 out of 16 correct=50%
Howard Kissel, New York Daily News--14 out of 20 correct=70%
Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press-15 out of 21 correct=71%
Jesse McKinley, The New York Times-17 out of 21 correct=81%
Patrick Pacheco, Show People*--10 out of 16 correct=63%
Michael Riedel, New York Post--16 out of 21 correct=76%
John Rowell, Show Business--13 out of 21 correct=62%
David Sheward, Backstage--15 out of 21 correct=71%
Linda Winer, Newsday--13 out of 21 correct=62%
Paul Wontorek, Broadway.com-18 out of 21 correct=86%

*As predicted on Showbiz Awards' Gold Derby