The Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), an association of professional film critics, who work in print, broadcast and online media, based in Chicago. Since the 6th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (1993), the award has been presented annually. The nominations from 1993, 1994 and 2004 are not available. The first Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Score went to composer Michael Nyman for his score to The Piano. The most recent recipient of this award is Jonny Greenwood for One Battle After Another.
French film composer Alexandre Desplat has the most nominations (13), with one win. Jonny Greenwood has the most wins (four) from seven nominations, while Howard Shore has three wins from six nominations. Hans Zimmer has eleven nominations, which have resulted in one win. English musician Clint Mansell has two wins from two nominations, while Mica Levi has two wins from three nominations and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have two wins from four nominations. Other notable achievers are James Horner, Randy Newman, and Carter Burwell who all have one win from multiple nominations. Several composers have been nominated multiple times, but never received the award, including Danny Elfman, Philip Glass and Elliot Goldenthal.
The 12th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (1999) saw the first two female composers, Jocelyn Pook and Rachel Portman, nominated for the award. In 2007, Markéta Irglová became the first female musician to win the award, along with Glen Hansard, for their work on Once. James Newton Howard became the first composer to receive multiple nominations at the 18th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards. He was nominated for his work on King Kong and his collaboration with Zimmer on Batman Begins. At the 25th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (2012), Desplat received nominations for his scores to Argo, Moonrise Kingdom and Zero Dark Thirty, the first time a composer has been nominated three times in one year. In 2023, Robbie Robertson received the award posthumously.
Winners and nominees
1990s Year Film Composer(s) 1993 The Piano 1994 The Lion King 1995 Toy Story Apollo 13 Get Shorty Heat The Secret of Roan Inish 1996 Fargo Dead Man James and the Giant Peach Michael Collins That Thing You Do! 1997 Titanic Gattaca Kundun L.A. Confidential The Sweet Hereafter 1998 The Truman Show A Bug's Life The Butcher Boy Elizabeth A Simple Plan 1999 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and The Cider House Rules Eyes Wide Shut The Red Violin Run Lola Run , , and
2000s Year Film Composer(s) 2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Dancer in the Dark Gladiator and O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Virgin Suicides and 2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring A.I. Artificial Intelligence A Beautiful Mind In the Mood for Love and Mulholland Drive 2002 Far from Heaven The Hours The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Punch-Drunk Love Spirited Away 2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Big Fish Cold Mountain The Fog of War The Triplets of Belleville 2004 The Aviator 2005 Brokeback Mountain Batman Begins and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory King Kong Memoirs of a Geisha 2006 The Fountain Babel Letters from Iwo Jima and Notes on a Scandal The Queen 2007 Once and The Assassination of Jesse James and Atonement Lust, Caution There Will Be Blood 2008 WALL-E The Curious Case of Benjamin Button The Dark Knight and Milk Slumdog Millionaire 2009 Up Avatar Fantastic Mr. Fox The Informant! Where the Wild Things Are and
2010s Year Film Composer(s) 2010 Black Swan I Am Love Inception The Social Network and True Grit 2011 Drive The Artist The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Hanna Hugo 2012 The Master Argo Beasts of the Southern Wild and Moonrise Kingdom Zero Dark Thirty 2013 Her Blancanieves Gravity Spring Breakers and 12 Years a Slave 2014 Under the Skin Birdman The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Interstellar 2015 The Hateful Eight Carol Inside Out It Follows Mad Max: Fury Road 2016 Jackie Arrival La La Land Moonlight The Neon Demon 2017 Phantom Thread Blade Runner 2049 and Dunkirk The Shape of Water War for the Planet of the Apes 2018 If Beale Street Could Talk First Man Mandy Suspiria You Were Never Really Here 2019 Little Women 1917 Marriage Story Uncut Gems Us
2020s Year Film Composer(s) 2020 Soul , , and Da 5 Bloods Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Mank and Tenet 2021 The Power of the Dog Annette and Dune The French Dispatch Spencer 2022 Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin The Batman Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio RRR 2023 Killers of the Flower Moon (posthumous) Barbie and Oppenheimer Poor Things The Zone of Interest 2024 Challengers and The Brutalist Dune: Part Two Nosferatu Wicked and The Wild Robot 2025 One Battle After Another The Mastermind Sinners The Testament of Ann Lee Train Dreams
See also
References General
Specific