Best Original Score

Of the 979 nominees for Best Original Score, 13 were women and 965 were men.* There was one non-binary nominee in this category. This is a ratio of 74 men to every one woman nominated. In fact, John Williams alone (49 nominations in this category, including 1 in 2024) has received nearly four times as many nominations as all the women nominees in this category combined. The first woman was nominated in 1946 (Ann Ronnell), with the first to win in 1984 (Marilyn Bergman). Four women have won the Oscar® for Best Original Score. There have been 78 years when no women or non-binary individuals were nominated in this category. 

Only 1 woman of color has been nominated in the 96-year history of the Academy Awards®. That nomination was for Germaine Franco and came in 2022. In other words, the Academy has nominated John Williams 49 times for every one nomination in this category for a woman of color.

Only 4% or 35 of the 979 nominees for Best Original Score were from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group.* This is a ratio of 27 white nominees to every underrepresented nominee. There have been 65 years, including 2024, when no underrepresented nominees have been recognized in this category. Duke Ellington was the first underrepresented nominee in 1962. Nine underrepresented individuals have won the award, beginning in 1985 (Prince). Two individuals (John Williams, Alfred Newman) each have more individual nominations than all of the underrepresented nominees combined. Fifteen nominees were Black/African American, 11 were Hispanic/Latino and 9 were Asian.

Two-thirds (77%) of underrepresented nominees had only one nomination, compared to 50% of white nominees. Only 6 underrepresented nominees had more than one nomination, with Alberto Iglesias (4 nominations) and Quincy Jones (3 nominations) at the top of the list. A total of 142 white nominees received two or more nominations– including John Williams’ 49th nomination this year.