Celebrating the musical storytellers whose scores elevate today’s most popular films, TV series and video games, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) announces today the recipients of the 2025 ASCAP Screen Music Awards, including the highly anticipated winners of the ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards.
Chosen by the ASCAP composer and songwriter community, the ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards are a singular recognition among US performing rights organizations. The 2025 winners, selected from an outstanding collection of nominees, crafted the music for a passionate sports drama, a period comedy-drama television series, an inspiring documentary that delves into the visionary mind of Jim Henson and a captivating fantasy-adventure video game:
- Film Score of the Year: Challengers – Trent Reznor
- Television Score of the Year: Palm Royale – Jeff Toyne
- Television Theme of the Year: Palm Royale – Jeff Toyne
- Documentary Score of the Year: Jim Henson Idea Man – David Fleming
- Video Game Score of the Year: Tales of Kenzera: Zau – Nainita Desai
In other categories, Andrea Datzman is honored with Top Box Office Film of the Year for the animated coming-of-age family film Inside Out 2. Composer Jeff Cardoni earned Top Network Television Series for his work in the heartwarming sitcom Young Sheldon, while John Sereda received Top Cable Television Series for his music in the historical drama When Calls the Heart. David Vanacore was the top winner in the Most Performed Themes & Underscore category.
In addition, ASCAP recognizes some of the top composers of the past year’s hit streaming series and films. The Top Streaming Series winners include Bear McCreary for his music in the epic fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Michael Abels for his tone-setting score in the sci-fi mystery-thriller The Acolyte, Jamie Jackson and WAZ for their work on comedy crime drama Bad Monkey and Rupert Gregson-Williams for his score and Josh Kear & Meghan Trainor for their theme to the suspenseful whodunit crime drama The Perfect Couple.
Among the Top Streaming Films winners, Hans Zimmer is honored for his inventive score to the historical World War II drama Blitz, Lorne Balfe receives recognition for his music in action thriller Carry-On, Amelia Warner is recognized for her work on biographical sports film Young Woman and the Sea and Siddhartha Khosla is celebrated for his musical storytelling in the romantic book-to-film adaptation of The Idea of You.