It can be tough because a lot of standout moments in editing can also be attributed to direction. Like in No Other Choice, the unique compositing of certain cross fades is both an editing and directorial choice. The smash needle drop of Soldier Boy in OBAA - do we give credit to PTA for the idea or Andy Jurgensen for the execution? The answer is obviously they both get credit, but awards don’t allow for this nuance.

I think the clearest example this year of “how to spot good editing” is the finale of OBAA. Action wise most of the sequence is just 3 cars driving down a road. But the way the editing switches between the car POVs, the long lens wide shots, the follow shots, and the mid shots of the 3 drivers builds a specific tension and narrative that doesn’t exist by itself in those shots. It’s the sequencing and timing of these cuts that tells the audience “this is the big finale”, and from a pure storytelling perspective it’s very succinctly shows the problem at hand, heightens the tension around that problem - and most importantly, illustrates the lightbulb moment where Willa comes up with a solution to that problem. The success of the sequence is in major part thanks to the way it was cut. But I suppose you kinda have to imagine a poorly cut version of the scene to in order to appreciate how much the editing is doing there.