Three Column Posts by Catagory?

Hi, I want to make my front page display posts going down in three columns, each holding a different category of posts. How would I do this?

For Example:

A/B/C being post categories, then

Header
Navigation Bar
Content:
A1 B1 C1
A2 B2 C2
A3 B3 C3
Footer

Even more ambitiously, would it be possible to make each column differently formatted? For example, column A having a post thumbnail, column B having just text, column C having a larger featured image. Would this be possible?

Thank you! Answers to either question appreciated!