Mark awards ceremony, taking sides (4)
I believe the answer is:
scar
'mark' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'awards ceremony taking sides' is the wordplay.
'awards ceremony' becomes 'Oscars' (the Academy Awards).
'taking sides' means to look at the middle letters (the letters at the sides are taken off).
The middle of 'oscars' is 'SCAR'.
(Other definitions for scar that I've seen before include "Old wound - bare cliff" , "Mark from a wound left on the skin" , "Mark left by the healing of injured tissue" , "area of wound" , "Mark left on healed tissue" .)