Outstanding
Original Music Score
Whether reflecting the depth and emotion of a film’s content and subjects, propelling a narrative forward or serving as a character in its own right, musical scores play an essential role in the impact of a nonfiction film. This award celebrates those diverse musicians who successfully married music to film.
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Honoree · 2026
Blake Neely
Honorees by year
All Years
2020s
2027 6 nominees
2026 Honoree Blake Neely For Come See Me in the Good Light
Nominees
- Sam Slater For 2000 Meters to Andriivka
- Maya Shenfeld For Cover-Up
- Kris Bowers For The Eyes of Ghana
- T. Griffin For Folktales
- Alexeï Aïgui For Orwell: 2+2=5
2025 Honoree Uno Helmersson For The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
Nominees
- Alexeï Aïgui For Ernest Cole: Lost and Found
- Víctor Hernández Stumpfhauser For Frida
- Nainita Desai For Nocturnes
- Mali Obomsawin For Sugarcane
2024 Honoree JD Samson For 32 Sounds
2023 Honoree Nicolas Godin For Fire of Love
Nominees
- Soundwalk Collective For All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
- Ray Angry, Rhiannon Giddens & Dirk Powell For Descendant
- Linda Buckley & Irene Buckley For Nothing Compares
- Katya Mihailova For The Territory
- Dave Cerf For Users
2022 Honoree Dan Deacon For Ascension
Nominees
- Dan Deacon For All Light, Everywhere
- Uno Helmersson For Flee
- Rachel Portman For Julia
- Thad Kellstadt For malni – towards the ocean, towards the shore
- Keegan DeWitt & Dabney Morris For Procession
2021 Honoree Vincent Van Warmerdam For The Mole Agent
Nominees
- Casey Wayne McAllister For Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
- Troy Herion For Bulletproof
- Nainita Desai For The Reason I Jump
- Jameison Shaw & Edwin Montgomery For Time
- Ed Côrtez For The Truffle Hunters
2020 Honoree Matt Morton For Apollo 11
Nominees
- Chad Cannon For American Factory
- Rose Bolton & Norah Lorway For Anthropocene: The Human Epoch
- Eicca Toppinen For Aquarela
- 4th Disciple For Black Mother
- Dominik Strycharski For Symphony for the Ursus Factory
2010s
2019 Honoree Ishai Adair For Shirkers
Nominees
- Keegan DeWitt For Bisbee ’17
- Travis Wilkerson For Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?
- Marco Beltrami For Free Solo
- Nathan Halpern & Chris Ruggiero For Minding the Gap
- Dan Deacon For Time Trial
2018 Honoree Philip Glass For Jane
Nominees
- Dan Romer & Ben Zeitlin For Brimstone and Glory
- Francesco Fantini & Lorenzo Senni For The Challenge
- Alex Somers For Dawson City: Frozen Time
- Dan Deacon For Rat Film
- Hildur Gudnadóttir & Craig Sutherland For Strong Island
2017 Honoree David Byrne, LeeAnn Rossi & Aaron Rosenblum For Contemporary Color
Nominees
- Lubomir Grzelak For All These Sleepless Nights
- Alexeï Aïgui For I Am Not Your Negro
- Alex Lu For In Pursuit of Silence
- Gary Lionelli For OJ: Made in America
2016 Honoree Laurie Anderson For Heart of a Dog
2015 Honoree Nick Cave & Warren Ellis For 20,000 Days on Earth
2014 Honoree Yasuaki Shimizu For Cutie and the Boxer
Nominees
- Sam Retzer & Tim Boland For A Band Called Death
- Jeff Beal For Blackfish
- Mads Heldtberg For Expedition to the End of the World
- Jeremy Turner For Narco Cultura
- Bradford Cox For Teenage
2013 Honoree Dial.81 For Detropia
Nominees
- Anne Nikitin For The Imposter
- Mark Degli Antoni For Into the Abyss
- Jonathan Snipes, William Hutson & The Caretaker For Room 237
- Alexander Popov For ¡Vivan las Antipodas!
2012 Honoree John Kusiak For Tabloid
Nominees
- Harry Escott & Molly Nyman For The Arbor
- Ernst Reijseger For Cave of Forgotten Dreams
- T. Griffin For Dragonslayer
- Antonio Pinto For Senna
2011 Honoree Norbert Möslang For The Sound of Insects: Record of a Mummy
2010 Honoree Danny Grody, Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri, Ted Savarese & Kenric Taylor For October Country
Honoree · 2010
Danny Grody, Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri, Ted Savarese & Kenric Taylor
October Country
Nominees
- Rich Ragsdale For Big River Man
- J. Ralph For The Cove
- Mark Adler For Food, Inc.
- Joel Goodman For Valentino: The Last Emperor
- Ben Decter & Marco D’Ambrosio For We Live in Public
2000s
2009 Honoree Max Richter For Waltz with Bashir
Nominees
- Nick Cave & Warren Ellis For The English Surgeon
- Kelli Scarr For In a Dream
- Eric Liebman For Life. Support. Music.
- Danny Elfman For Standard Operating Procedure
- Béla Fleck For Throw Down Your Heart
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