Discovery of the Year is an award handed out yearly at the World Soundtrack Awards to commemorate an excellent piece of musical work in the field of TV and movie soundtracks that seemed to come out of nowhere, hence the title of the award. It has been handed out since the World Soundtrack Awards' debut in 2001. The category sometimes has multiple nominees and sometimes does not.
Winners and nominees 2000s 2001 Moulin Rouge! and Kiss of the Dragon – Craig Armstrong Beck - "Hämndens pris" – Adam Nordén Ftina tsigara – Panayotis Kalantzopoulos The Man Who Cried – Osvaldo Golijov Pollock – Jeff Beal Wo hu cang long – Tan Dun
2002 The Time Machine – Klaus Badelt Thunderpants – Rupert Gregson-Williams Lagaan – A.R. Rahman Frailty – Brian Tyler Minoes – Peter Vermeersch
2003 Cidade de Deus – Antonio Pinto Children of Dune – Brian Tyler One Hour Photo – Reinhold Heil & Johnny Klimek Les Triplettes de Belleville– Benoit Charest
2004 21 Grams – Gustavo Santaolalla Chasing Liberty and Les Fils du vent – Christian Henson Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Jon Brion Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – Iva Davies, Christopher Gordon & Richard Tognetti La Puta y la ballena – Daniel Tarrab & Andrés Goldstein
2005 The Incredibles – Michael Giacchino Dear Wendy – Benjamin Wallfisch Deuda – Andrés Goldstein & Daniel Tarrab Layer Cake – Ilan Eshkeri The Syrian Bride – Cyril Morin
2006 Babam Ve Oglum – Evanthia Reboutsika Les Brigades du Tigre – Olivier Florio Monster House – Douglas Pipes The Proposition – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis The Thief Lord – Nigel Clarke & Michael Csányi-Wills
2007 XXY & Inheritance – Daniel Tarrab & Andrés Goldstein Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Nicholas Hooper Mr. Brooks – Ramin Djawadi The Science of Sleep – Jean Michel Bernard La Tourneuse de Pages – Jerome Lemonnier
2008 American Gangster – Marc Streitenfeld Aanrijding in Moscou – Before the Rains – Mark Kilian The Escapist – Benjamin Wallfisch El Orfanato – Velásquez Fernando
2009 The Reader – Nico Muhly Babylon A.D. – Atli Örvarsson Crying with Laughter – Lorne Balfe Demain dès l'aube – Jérôme Lemonnier Journey to the Center of the Earth – Andrew Lockington
2010s 2010 A Single Man – Abel Korzeniowski Skin – Hélène Muddiman The Book of Eli – Atticus Ross, Claudia Sarne, and Leopold Ross District 9 – Clinton Shorter The Last Station – Sergey Yevtushenko
2011 The First Grader and The Rite – Alex Heffes Limitless – Paul Leonard-Morgan Natural Selection and Hamill – iZLER Hanna – The Chemical Brothers (Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands) X-Men: First Class and Gulliver's Travels – Henry Jackman
2012 Albert Nobbs – Brian Byrne Immortals – Trevor Morris Take Shelter – David Wingo Lola Versus & Nobody Walks – Fall On Your Sword The Raven, Sleep Tight & Cold Light of Day – Lucas Vidal
2013 Beasts of the Southern Wild – Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin Copperhead – Laurent Eyquem Oblivion – Anthony Gonzalez & Joseph Trapanese Hammer of the Gods & Summer in February – Benjamin Wallfisch The Spectacular Now & The Way Way Back – Rob Simonsen
2014 Cuban Fury & The Counselor – Daniel Pemberton Calvary – Patrick Cassidy La Chair de Ma Chair & Zum Geburtstag – Jérôme Lemonnier Gravity & The World's End – Steven Price The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet – Denis Sanacore
2015 Birdman – Antonio Sánchez But Always & Highway of Love – Zhiyi Wang Ex Machina – Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow (Portishead) A Most Violent Year – Alex Ebert (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) Spooks: The Greater Good – Dominic Lewis
2016 Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – Joe Kraemer 10 Cloverfield Lane & The Boy – Bear McCreary The Big Short – Nicholas Britell Eddie the Eagle – Matthew Margeson Synchronicity – Ben Lovett
2017 Moonlight – Nicholas Britell Get Out – Michael Abels Lady Macbeth – Dan Jones Lion – Hauschka & Dustin O'Halloran My Cousin Rachel – Rael Jones
2018 Mudbound – Tamar-kali Nostalgia – Laurent Eyquem Sicario: Day of the Soldado – Hildur Guðnadóttir Girl – Valentin Hadjadj Mary Shelley – Amelia Warner
2019 Us - Michael Abels The Last Tree – Segun Akinola Green Book – Kris Bowers Where Hands Touch – Anne Chmelewsky Under the Silver Lake – Disasterpeace
2020s 2020 The Two Popes – Bryce Dessner Berlin Alexanderplatz – Dascha Dauenhauer A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon – Tom Howe Uncut Gems – Daniel Lopatin The Personal History of David Copperfield – Christopher Willis
2021 The Reason I Jump – Nainita Desai Wild Indian – Gavin Brivik Calamity – Florencia Di Concilio Infidel – Natalie Holt Promising Young Woman – Anthony Willis
2022 Drive My Car – Eiko Ishibashi Pleasure – Karl Frid Everything Everywhere All at Once – Son Lux Coppelia – Maurizio Malagnini The Edge of War – Isobel Waller-Bridge
2023 Avatar: The Way of Water – Simon Franglen Golda – Dascha Dauenhauer Suzume – RADWIMPS / Kazuma Jinnouchi Knock at the Cabin – Herdís Stefánsdóttir The Menu – Colin Stetson
2024 Poor Things – Jerskin Fendrix In the Land of Saints and Sinners – Diego Baldenweg with Nora Baldenweg and Lionel Baldenweg Ezra – Carlos Rafael Rivera Julie Keeps Quiet (Julie zwijgt) – Caroline Shaw Saltburn – Anthony Wills
2025 The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg'Conclave', 'The Brutalist' Scores Win at World Soundtrack Awards – Variety'Conclave', 'The Brutalist' composers lead winners at 2025 World Soundtrack Awards|Screen Daily Nosferatu – Robin Carolan Mickey 17 – Jung Jae-il Mufasa: The Lion King – Dave Metzger Sentimental Value – Hania Rani
References
See also Academy Award for Best Original Score Cannes Soundtrack Award
External links List of World Soundtrack Awards Winners & Nominees