The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media is an honor presented to a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

(or composers) for an original score created for a film, TV show or series, or other visual media at the

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by

The Recording Academy The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy A ...

of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position". It has been awarded since the

2nd Annual Grammy Awards The 2nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on November 29, 1959, at Los Angeles and New York. Hosted by Meredith Willson, this marked the first televised Grammy Award ceremony, and it was aired in episodes as special '' Sunday Showcase''. It was held ...

in 1959. The first recipient was American composer and pianist

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...

, for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

to the 1959 film '' Anatomy of a Murder''. Originally known as the Grammy Award for Best Sound Track Album – Background Score from a Motion Picture or Television, the award is now known as the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. Until 2001, the award was presented to the composer of the music alone. From 2001 to 2007, the music producer(s) and sound engineer/mixer(s) shared the award. In 2007, the award reverted to a composer-only award.

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review '' WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

holds the record for most wins and nominations for the award, with eleven wins out of thirty-four nominations.

Austin Wintory Austin Wintory (born September 9, 1984) is an American composer for film and video games. He is known for scoring the video games '' Flow'' and '' Journey'', which made history as the only video game soundtrack to be nominated for the Grammy Awa ...

's nomination for '' Journey'' at the

55th Annual Grammy Awards The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ...

was the only time that a video game was nominated in this category before the new category of Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games And Other Interactive Media was created in 2022. As of 2023, the award's full title is Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Includes Film and Television).

Recipients

Randy Newman HWOF Aug 2012 (levels adjusted)

Howard Shore, Canadian Film Centre, 2013-1

Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year.

Name changes

There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:

Multiple wins and nominations

''Up to and including the 65th Annual Grammy Awards (2023)''

Wins

– 11 (6 consecutive) *

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. ...

– 3 (consecutive) * Alexandre Desplat – 2 * Hildur Guðnadóttir – 2 (consecutive) *

Alan Menken Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for '' The Little Mermaid'' (1989), '' Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ' ...

– 2 (consecutive) *

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 ...

– 2 *

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including '' The Player'' (1992); '' The Sh ...

– 2 *

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...

– 2 * Atticus Ross – 2 *

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Oscars and four Grammys, and has been nominated for two Emmys and a Tony. Zimmer was also named on the list of Top 100 Living G ...

– 2 * Michael Giacchino – 2

Nominations

– 34 *

– 17 *

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 ...

– 9 *

– 9

Notes

References

;General * Note: User must select the "Film/TV/Media" category as the genre under the search feature. ;Specific

External links

Official site of the Grammy Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grammy Award For Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media Film awards for best score Score Soundtrack Album for Visual Media