The Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Score is one of several categories presented by the

Chicago Film Critics Association The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) is an association of professional film critics, who work in print, broadcast and online media, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The organization was founded in 1990 by film critics Sharon LeM ...

(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 Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film scores (many written during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Gre ...

for his score to '' The Piano''. The most recent recipient of this award is Justin Hurwitz for the black comedy-drama film ''

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

''. French film composer Alexandre Desplat has the most nominations (13), with one win.

Howard Shore Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer and conductor noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and '' The Hobbit'' film trilogies. ...

and

Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, t ...

have the most wins (three) from six nominations. Hans Zimmer has ten nominations, which have resulted in one win. English musician

Clint Mansell Clinton Darryl Mansell (; born 7 January 1963) is an English musician, singer, and composer, born in Coventry. He served as the lead singer and multi-instrumentalist of alt-rock band Pop Will Eat Itself before embarking on a career as a fi ...

has two wins from two nominations, as does Mica Levi.

Carter Burwell Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1954) is an American film composer. He has consistently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. Burwell has also scored three of Todd Haynes's films, three of Spike Jon ...

has one win from five nominations. Other notable achievers are James Horner,

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern-accented singing style, early Americana-influenced songs (often with mordant or satirical lyrics), and vari ...

, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who all have one win from four nominations. Several composers have been nominated multiple times, but never received the award, including

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...

and Elliot Goldenthal. The 12th Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (1999) saw the first two female composers,

Jocelyn Pook Jocelyn Pook (, rhyming with "book"; born 14 February 1960) is an English composer and viola player. She is known for her scores for many films, including ''Eyes Wide Shut'', ''The Merchant of Venice'' and '' The Wife''. Education Pook gradua ...

and Rachel Portman, nominated for the award. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

Markéta Irglová Markéta Irglová () (born 28 February 1988) is a Czech-Icelandic singer-songwriter, musician and actress, who starred in the film ''Once'', which earned her a number of major awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song for " Fall ...

became the first female musician to win the award, along with Glen Hansard, for their work on ''

Once Once means a one-time occurrence. Once may refer to: Music * ''Once'' (Pearl Jam song), a 1991 song from the album ''Ten'' * ''Once'' (Roy Harper album), a 1990 album by Roy Harper * ''Once'' (The Tyde album), a 2001 debut album by The Tyd ...

''.

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, music producer and keyboardist. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores ...

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 ''Moonrise Kingdom'' is a 2012 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, and starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzma ...

'' and ''

Zero Dark Thirty ''Zero Dark Thirty'' is a 2012 American thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. The film dramatizes the nearly decade-long international manhunt for Osama bin Laden, leader of terrorist network Al-Qaeda, after ...

'', the first time a composer has been nominated three times in one year.

Winners and nominees

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

References