Best Original Score

The Academy Award for Best Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. From 1934-1937, the head of the music department (rather than the actual composer or composers, in most cases) received the nominations or award. A variety of people have been nominated for this award including composers, band leaders, rock musicians, pop stars and record producers.

This category has had numerous name changes throughout the years which will be reflected through the nominees and winners list below with links to those categories.

The official name of the award has changed several times over the years:

1934 — 1937: Best Scoring
1938 — 1940: Divided into two Categories, Best Original Score and Best Scoring
1941: Divided into two Categories, Best Score of a Dramatic Picture and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
1942 — 1956: Dividing into two Categories, Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
1957: Best Scoring
1958 — 1961: Divided into two Categories, Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture]
1962 — 1967: Divided into two Categories, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Score
1968 — 1969: Divided into two Categories, Best Original Score and Best Score of a Musical Picture
1970: Divided into two Categories, Best Original Score and Best Song Score
1971 — 1974: Divided into two Categories, Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Adapted Score
1975 — 1979: Divided into two Categories, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Score
1980 — 1981: Best Original Score
1982 — 1984: Divided into two Categories, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Score
1985 — 1994: Best Original Score
1995 — 1998: Divided into two Categories, Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score
1999 — Present: Best Original Score

Nominees and winners[]

Best Original Score By Decade
1930s • 1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s • 2010s

1930s

11th Academy Awards (1938)

Winner: The Adventures of Robin Hood — Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Nominees: Army Girl — Victor Young; Block-Heads — Marvin Hatley; Blockade — Werner Janssen; Breaking the Ice — Victor Young; The Cowboy and the Lady — Alfred Newman; If I Were King — Richard Hageman; Marie Antoinette (1938) — Herbert Stothart; Pacific Liner — Russell Bennett; Suez — Louis Silvers; The Young in Heart — Franz Waxman

12th Academy Awards (1939)

Winner: The Wizard of Oz — Herbert Stothart
Nominees: Dark Victory — Max Steiner; Eternally Yours — Werner Janssen; Golden Boy — Victor Young; Gone with the Wind — Max Steiner; Gulliver's Travels — Victor Young; The Man in the Iron Mask — Lud Gluskin, Lucien Moraweck; Man of Conquest — Victor Young; Nurse Edith Cavell — Anthony Collins; Of Mice and Men — Aaron Copland; The Rains Came — Alfred Newman; Wuthering Heights — Alfred Newman

1940s

13th Academy Awards (1940)

Winner: Pinocchio — Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, Ned Washington
Nominees: Arizone — Victor Young; The Dark Command — Victor Young; The Fight for Life — Louis Gruenberg; The Great Dictator — Meredith Willson; The House of the Seven Gables — Frank Skinner; The Howards of Virginia — Richard Hageman; The Letter — Max Steiner; The Long Voyage Home — Richard Hageman; The Mark of Zorro — Alfred Newman; My Favorite Wife — Roy Webb; North West Mounted Police — Victor Young; One Million B.C. — Werner Heymann; Our Town — Aaron Copeland

1960s

35th Academy Awards (1962)

Winner: Lawrence of Arabia — Maurice Jarre
Nominees: Freud — Jerry Goldsmith; Mutiny on the Bounty — Bronislau Kaper; Taras Bulba — Franz Waxman; To Kill a Mockingbird — Elmer Bernstein

36th Academy Awards (1963)

Winner: Tom Jones — John Addison
Nominees: Cleopatra — Alex North; 55 Days at Peking — Dimitri Tiomkin; How the West Was Won — Alfred Newman, Ken Darby; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World — Ernest Gold

37th Academy Awards (1964)

Winner: Mary Poppins — Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman
Nominees: Becket — Laurence Rosenthal; The Fall of the Roman Empire — Dimitri Tiomkin; Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte — Frank DeVol; The Pink Panther — Henry Mancini

38th Academy Awards (1965)

Winner: Doctor Zhivago — Maurice Jarre
Nominees: The Agony and the Ecstasy — Alex North; The Greatest Story Ever Told — Alfred Newman; A Patch of Blue — Jerry Goldsmith; The Umbrella of Cherbourg — Michel Legand, Jacques Demy

39th Academy Awards (1966)

Winner: Born Free — John Barry
Nominees: The Bible — Toshiro Mayuzumi; Hawaii — Elmer Bernstein; The Sand Pebbles — Jerry Goldsmith; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — Alex North

40th Academy Awards (1967)

Winner: Thoroughly Modern Millie — Elmer Bernstein
Nominees: Cool Hand Luke — Lalo Schifrin; Doctor Dolittle — Leslie Bricusse; Far from the Madding Crowd — Richard Rodney Bennett; In Cold Blood — Quincy Jones

1970s

43rd Academy Awards (1970)

Winner: Love Story — Francis Lai
Nominees: Airport — Alfred Newman; Cromwell — Frank Cordell; Patton — Jerry Goldsmith; Sunflower — Henry Mancini

48th Academy Awards (1975)

Winner: Jaws — John Williams
Nominees: Birds Do It, Bees Do It — Gerald Fried; Bite the Bullet — Alex North; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest — Jack Nitzsche; The Wind and the Lion — Jerry Goldsmith

49th Academy Awards (1976)

Winner: The Omen — Jerry Goldsmith
Nominees: Obession — Bernard Herrmann; The Outlaw Josey Wales — Jerry Fielding; Taxi Driver — Bernard Herrmann; Voyage of the Damned — Lalo Schifrin

50th Academy Awards (1977)

Winner: Star Wars — John Williams
Nominees: Close Encounters of the Third Kind — John Williams; Julia — Georges Delerue; Mohammad - Messenger of God — Maurice Jarre; The Spy Who Loved Me — Marvin Hamlisch

51st Academy Awards (1978)

Winner: Midnight Express — Giorgio Moroder
Nominees: The Boys from Brazil — Jerry Goldsmith; Days of Heaven — Ennio Morricone; Heaven Can Wait — Dave Grusin; Superman — John Williams

52nd Academy Awards (1979)

Winner: A Little Romance — Georges Delerue
Nominees: The Amityville Horror — Lalo Schifrin; The Champ — Dave Grusin; Star Trek - The Motion Picture — Jerry Goldsmith; 10 — Henry Mancini

1980s

53rd Academy Awards (1980)

Winner: Fame — Michael Gore
Nominees: Altered States — John Corigliano; The Elephant Man — John Morris; The Empire Strikes Back — John Williams; Tess — Philippe Sarde

54th Academy Awards (1981)

Winner: Chariots of Fire — Vangelis
Nominees: Dragonslayer — Alex North; On Golden Pond — Dave Grusin; Ragtime — Randy Newman; Raiders of the Lost Ark — John Williams

55th Academy Awards (1982)

Winner: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial — John Williams
Nominees: Gandhi — Ravi Shankar, George Fenton; An Officer and a Gentleman — Jack Nitzsche; Poltergeist — Jerry Goldsmith; Sophie's Choice — Jack Nitzsche

56th Academy Awards (1983)

Winner: The Right Stuff — Bill Conti
Nominees: Cross Creek — Leonard Rosenman; Return of the Jedi — John Williams; Terms of Endearment — Michael Gore; Under Fire — Jerry Goldsmith

57th Academy Awards (1984)

Winner: A Passage to India — Maurice Jarre
Nominees: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom — John Williams; The Natural — Randy Newman; The River — John Williams; Under the Volcano — Alex North

58th Academy Awards (1985)

Winner: Out of Africa — John Barry
Nominees: Agnes of God — Georges Delerue; The Color Purple — Quincy Jones, Jeremy Lubbock, Rod Temperton, Caiphus Semenya, Andrae Crouch, Chris Boardman, Jorge Calandrelli, Joel Rosenbaum, Fred Steiner, Jack Hayes, Jerry Hey, Randy Kerber; Silverado — Bruce Broughton; Witness — Maurice Jarre

59th Academy Awards (1986)

Winner: 'Round Midnight — Herbie Hancock
Nominees: Aliens — James Horner; Hoosiers — Jerry Goldsmith; The Mission — Ennio Morricone; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home — Leonard Rosenman

60th Academy Awards (1987)

Winner: The Last Emperor — Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, Cong Su
Nominees: Cry Freedom — George Fenton, Jonas Gwangwa; Empire of the Sun — John Williams; The Untouchables — Ennio Morricone; The Witches of Eastwick — John Williams

61st Academy Awards (1988)

Winner: The Milagro Beanfield War — Dave Grusin
Nominees: The Accidental Tourist — John Williams; Dangerous Liaisons — George Fenton; Gorillas in the Mist — Maurice Jarre; Rain Man — Hans Zimmer

62nd Academy Awards (1989)

Winner: The Little Mermaid — Alan Menken
Nominees: Born on the Fourth of July — John Williams; The Fabulous Baker Boys — David Grusin; Field of Dreams — James Horner; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — John Williams

1990s

63rd Academy Awards (1990)

Winner: Dances With Wolves — John Barry
Nominees: Avalon — Randy Newman; Ghost — Maurice Jarre; Havana — David Grusin; Home Alone — John Williams

64th Academy Awards (1991)

Winner: Beauty and the Beast — Alan Menken
Nominees: Bugsy — Ennio Morricone; The Fisher King — George Fenton; JFK — John Williams; The Prince of Tides — James Newton Howard

65th Academy Awards (1992)

Winner: Aladdin — Alan Menken
Nominees: Basic Instinct — Jerry Goldsmith; Chaplin — John Barry; Howards End — Richard Robbins; A River Run Through It — Mark Isham

66th Academy Awards (1993)

Winner: Schindler's List — John Williams
Nominees: The Age of Innocence — Elmer Bernstein; The Firm — Dave Grusin; The Fugitive — James Newton Howard; The Remains of the Day — Richard Robbins

67th Academy Awards (1994)

Winner: The Lion King — Hans Zimmer
Nominees: Forrest Gump — Alan Silvestri; Interview with the Vampire — Elliot Goldenthal; Little Women — Thomas Newman; The Shawshank Redemption — Thomas Newman

72nd Academy Awards (1999)

Winner: The Red Violin — John Corigliano
Nominees: American Beauty — Thomas Newman; Angela's Ashes — John Williams; The Cider House Rules — Rachel Portman; The Talented Mr. Ripley — Gabriel Yared

2000s

73rd Academy Awards (2000)

Winner: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon — Tan Dun
Nominees: Chocolat — Rachel Portman; Gladiator — Hans Zimmer; Malèna — Ennio Morricone; The Patriot — John Williams

74th Academy Awards (2001)

Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring — Howard Shore
Nominees: A.I. Artificial Intelligence — John Williams; A Beautiful Mind — James Horner; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone — John Williams; Monsters, Inc. — Randy Newman

75th Academy Awards (2002)

Winner: Frida — Elliot Goldenthal
Nominees: Catch Me If You Can — John Williams; Far from Heaven — Elmer Bernstein; The Hours — Philip Glass; Road to Perdition — Thomas Newman

76th Academy Awards (2003)

Winner: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Howard Shore
Nominees: Big Fish — Danny Elfman; Cold Mountain — Gabriel Yared; Finding Nemo — Thomas Newman; House of Sand and Fog — James Horner

77th Academy Awards (2004)

Winner: Finding Neverland — Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
Nominees: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — John Williams; Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events — Thomas Newman; The Passion of the Christ — John Debney; The Village (2004) — James Newton Howard

78th Academy Awards (2005)

Winner: Brokeback Mountain — Gustavo Santaolalla
Nominees: The Constant Gardener — Alberto Iglesias; Memoirs of a Geisha — John Williams; Munich — John Williams; Pride & Prejudice (2005) — Dario Marianelli

79th Academy Awards (2006)

Winner: Babel — Gustavo Santaolalla
Nominees: The Good German — Thomas Newman; Notes on a Scandal — Philip Glass; Pan's Labyrinth — Javier Navarrete; The Queen — Alexandre Desplat

80th Academy Awards (2007)

Winner: Atonement — Dario Marianelli
Nominees: The Kite Runner — Alberto Iglesias; Michael Clayton — James Newton Howard; Ratatouille — Michael Giacchino; 3:10 to Yuma — Marco Beltrami

81st Academy Awards (2008)

Winner: Slumdog Millionaire — A.R. Rahman
Nominees: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — Alexandre Desplat; Defiance — James Newton Howard; Milk — Danny Elfman; WALL-E — Thomas Newman

82nd Academy Awards (2009)

Winner: Up — Michael Giacchino
Nominees: Avatar — James Horner; Fantastic Mr. Fox — Alexandre Desplat; The Hurt Locker — Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders; Sherlock Holmes — Hans Zimmer

2010s

83rd Academy Awards (2010)

Winner: The Social Network — Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Nominees: How to Train Your Dragon — John Powell; Inception — Hans Zimmer; The King's Speech — Alexandre Desplat; 127 Hours — A.R. Rahman

84th Academy Awards (2011)

Winner: The Artist — Ludovic Bource
Nominees: The Adventures of Tintin — John Williams; Hugo — Howard Shore; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy — Alberto Iglesias; War Horse — John Williams

85th Academy Awards (2012)

Winner: Life of Pi — Mychael Danna
Nominees: Anna Karenina — Dario Marianelli; Argo — Alexandre Desplat; Lincoln — John Williams; Skyfall — Thomas Newman

86th Academy Awards (2013)

Winner: Gravity — Steven Price
Nominees: The Book Thief — John Williams; Her — William Butler, Owen Pallett; Philomena — Alexandre Desplat; Saving Mr. Banks — Thomas Newman

87th Academy Awards (2014)

Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel — Alexandre Desplat
Nominees: The Imitation Game — Alexandre Desplat; Interstellar — Hans Zimmer; Mr. Turner — Gary Yershon; The Theory of Everything — Jóhann Jóhannsson

88th Academy Awards (2015)

Winner: The Hateful Eight — Ennio Morricone
Nominees: Bridge of Spies — Thomas Newman; Carol — Carter Burwell; Sicario — Jóhann Jóhannsson; Star Wars: The Force Awakens — John Williams

89th Academy Awards (2016)

Winner: La La Land — Justin Hurwitz
Nominees: Jackie — Mica Levi; Lion — Dustin O'Halloran, Hauschka; Moonlight — Nicholas Britell; Passengers — Thomas Newman

90th Academy Awards (2017)

Winner: The Shape of Water — Alexandre Desplat
Nominees: Dunkirk — Hans Zimmer; Phantom Thread — Jonny Greenwood; Star Wars: The Last Jedi — John Williams; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — Carter Burwell

91st Academy Awards (2018)

Winner: Black Panther — Ludwig Goransson
Nominees: BlacKkKlansman — Terence Blanchard; If Beale Street Could Talk — Nicholas Britell; Isle of Dogs — Alexandre Desplat; Mary Poppins Returns — Marc Shaiman

92nd Academy Awards (2019)

Winner: Joker — Hildur Guðnadóttir
Nominees: 1917 — Thomas Newman; Little Women (2019) — Alexandre Desplat; Marriage Story — Randy Newman; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — John Williams

2020s

93rd Academy Awards (2020)

Winner: Soul — Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste
Nominees: Da 5 Bloods — Terence Blanchard; Mank — Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross; Minari — Emile Mosseri; News of the World — James Newton Howard

94th Academy Awards (2021)

Winner: Dune: Part One — Hans Zimmer
Nominees: Don't Look Up — Nicholas Britell; Encanto — Germaine Franco; Parallel Mothers — Alberto Iglesias; The Power of the Dog — Johnny Greenwood

95th Academy Awards (2022)

Winner: All Quiet on the Western Front — Volker Bertelmann
Nominees: Babylon — Justin Hurwitz; The Banshees of Inisherin — Carter Burwell; Everything Everywhere All at Once — Son Lux; The Fabelmans — John Williams

96th Academy Awards (2023)

Winner: Oppenheimer — Ludwig Göransson
Nominees: American Fiction — Laura Karpman; Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — John Williams; Killers of the Flower Moon — Robbie Robertson; Poor Things — Jerskin Fendrix

Related Categories[]

Best Adapted Score
Best Score of a Dramatic Picture
Best Scoring
Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
Best Song Score

Best Original Score

Nominees and winners[]

Related Categories[]

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