Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Score

An annual award for Best Achievement in Music - Original Score is presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian original score for the previous year. Prior to 2012, the award was presented as part of the Genie Awards; since 2012 it has been presented as part of the expanded Canadian Screen Awards.

1970s

Year	Nominee	Film	Ref
1970 22nd Canadian Film Awards
	Harry Freedman	The Act of the Heart	[1]
1971 23rd Canadian Film Awards
	Jean Cousineau	Mon oncle Antoine	[1]
1972 24th Canadian Film Awards
	Pierre F. Brault	The True Nature of Bernadette (La vraie nature de Bernadette)	[1]
1973 25th Canadian Film Awards
	Willie Lamothe, Tristan Hansinger, Chick Peabody, Peter Van Ginkel	The Death of a Lumberjack (La mort d'un bûcheron)	[1]
1974
	No award presented		[1]
1975 26th Canadian Film Awards
	Nick Whitehead	Lions for Breakfast	[1]
1976 27th Canadian Film Awards
	Lewis Furey	Normande (La tête de Normande St-Onge)	[1]
1977 28th Canadian Film Awards
	Paul Hoffert	Outrageous!	[1]
1978 29th Canadian Film Awards
	Oscar Peterson	The Silent Partner	[1]
	Paul Zaza, Jim Caverhill	Three Card Monte
	Paul Hoffert	The Third Walker
	Maurice Marshall	Marie-Anne

1980s

Year	Nominee	Film	Ref
1980 1st Genie Awards
	Carl Zittrer, Paul Zaza	Murder By Decree	[1]
	Hagood Hardy	Jack London's Klondike Fever	[2]
	Paul Hoffert	Wild Horse Hank
	Alain Leroux	It Rained All Night the Day I Left
	Howard Shore	The Brood
1981 2nd Genie Awards
	Art Philips	The Lucky Star	[1]
	Matthew McCauley	Middle Age Crazy
	John Mills-Cockell	Terror Train
	Kenneth Wannberg	Tribute
1982 3rd Genie Awards
	Claude Denjean, Stéphane Venne	The Plouffe Family (Les Plouffe)	[1]
	Jean Cousineau	Happy Memories (Les Beaux souvenirs)	[3]
	Micky Erbe, Maribeth Solomon	Ticket to Heaven
	Bo Harwood, Lance Rubin	Happy Birthday to Me
1983 4th Genie Awards
	Michael Conway Baker	The Grey Fox	[1]
	Jonathan Goldsmith	Visiting Hours	[4]
	Maribeth Solomon, Micky Erbe	Threshold
1984 5th Genie Awards
	Lewis Furey	Maria Chapdelaine	[1]
	Michael Conway Baker	Deserters
	Joël Bienvenue	Au clair de la lune
	Karl Kobylansky	Dead Wrong
	André Vincelli	A 20th Century Chocolate Cake
1985 6th Genie Awards
	François Dompierre	Mario	[1]
	J. Douglas Dodd, Michael Oczko	Walls
	Germain Gauthier	The Dog Who Stopped the War (La Guerre des tuques)
	François Lanctôt	Sonatine
	Betty Lazebnik	Reno and the Doc
	Paul Zaza	Isaac Littlefeathers
1986 7th Genie Awards
	François Dompierre	The Alley Cat (Le Matou)	[1]
	Lewis Furey	Night Magic
	Lewis Furey	The Peanut Butter Solution
	Philippe Sarde	Joshua Then and Now
1987 8th Genie Awards
	Michael Conway Baker	John and the Missus	[1]
	Marie Bernard, Richard Grégoire	Exit
	Marvin Dolgay	The Blue Man
1988 9th Genie Awards
	Jean Corriveau	Night Zoo (Un Zoo la nuit)	[1]
	Mychael Danna	Family Viewing
	Tim McCauley	Blue City Slammers
1989 10th Genie Awards
	Howard Shore	Dead Ringers	[1]
	Aaron Davis, Billy Bryans	Office Party	[5]
	François Dompierre	The Revolving Doors (Les Portes tournantes)
	Richard Grégoire	The Heat Line (La ligne de chaleur)
	Osvaldo Montes	Straight for the Heart (À corps perdu)
	Maribeth Solomon, Micky Erbe	Milk and Honey

1990s

Year	Nominee	Film	Ref
1990 11th Genie Awards
	Yves Laferrière	Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal)	[1]
	Jeff Danna, Mychael Danna	Cold Comfort
	Mychael Danna	Speaking Parts
	Milan Kymlicka	Babar: The Movie
	Lawrence Schragge	Palais Royale
1991 12th Genie Awards
	Jean Corriveau	The Savage Woman (La Demoiselle sauvage)	[1]
	Marie Bernard	Love Crazy (Amoureux fou)
	Georges Delerue	Black Robe
	Jonathan Goldsmith	Diplomatic Immunity
	Mark Korven	White Room
1992 13th Genie Awards
	Richard Grégoire	Being at Home with Claude	[1]
	Michael Becker	Solitaire
	Graeme Coleman	North of Pittsburgh
	Pierre Desrochers	The Saracen Woman (La Sarrasine)
	Howard Shore	Naked Lunch
1993 14th Genie Awards
	Simon Kendall	Cadillac Girls	[1]
	Todd Boekelheide	Digger	[6]
	Pierre Desrochers	Women in Love (Les Amoureuses)
	Mark Korven	The Grocer's Wife
	Yves Laferrière	The Sex of the Stars (Le Sexe des étoiles)
1994 15th Genie Awards
	Mychael Danna	Exotica	[1]
	George Blondheim	Whale Music
	Mark Korven	Henry & Verlin
	Milan Kymlicka	A Hero's Life (La Vie d'un héros)
	Milan Kymlicka	Matusalem
1995 16th Genie Awards
	Milan Kymlicka	Margaret's Museum	[1]
	Serge Arcuri, Luc Aubry	Black List (Liste noire)
	Aaron Davis, John Lang	Rude
	Richard Grégoire	Water Child (L'Enfant d'eau)
	Mark Korven	The Michelle Apartments
1996 17th Genie Awards
	Mark Korven	Curtis's Charm	[1]
	Richard Rodney Bennett	Swann
	Normand Corbeil	Screamers
	Mychael Danna	Lilies
	Ron Sures	Joe's So Mean to Josephine
1997 18th Genie Awards
	Mychael Danna	The Sweet Hereafter	[1]
	François Dompierre	The Ideal Man (L'Homme idéal)
	Serge Laforest, Gaëtan Gravel	Night of the Flood (La nuit du déluge)
	Robert Marcel Lepage	The Human Plant (La Plante humaine)
	Don MacDonald	Kissed
1998 19th Genie Awards
	John Corigliano	The Red Violin	[1]
	Mychael Danna	Regeneration
	Jonathan Goldsmith	Such a Long Journey
	Mark Korven	Cube
	Alexina Louie, Alex Pauk	Last Night
1999 20th Genie Awards
	Mychael Danna	Felicia's Journey	[1]
	John Wesley Chisholm, Michael Diabo, John Roby	Beefcake	[7]
	Nick Dyer, Eric Cadesky	Extraordinary Visitor
	Jono Grant	Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang
	Maurice Jarre	Sunshine

2000s

Year	Nominee	Film	Ref
2000 21st Genie Awards
	Patric Caird	Here's to Life!
	Normand Corbeil	The Art of War
	Aaron Davis, John Lang	Love Come Down
	François Dompierre	Laura Cadieux II (Laura Cadieux...la suite)
	Alan Reeves	To Walk with Lions
2001 22nd Genie Awards
	Chris Crilly	Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner	[8]
	Alexander Balanescu	Eisenstein
	Bertrand Chénier	Tar Angel (L'Ange de goudron)
	Pierre Duchesne	A Girl at the Window (Une jeune fille à la fenêtre)
	Andrew Zealley, Don Pyle	The Law of Enclosures
2002 23rd Genie Awards
	Mychael Danna	Ararat
	Chris Ainscough	Suddenly Naked
	Michel Cusson	The Collector (Le Collectionneur)
	Glenn Morley	Duct Tape Forever
	Zbigniew Preisner	Between Strangers
2003 24th Genie Awards
	Christopher Dedrick	The Saddest Music in the World
	Michel Cusson	Séraphin: Heart of Stone (Séraphin: un homme et son péché)
	Mychael Danna	The Snow Walker
	Richard Grassby-Lewis, Jon Hassell, Bob Locke, Tim Norfolk	Owning Mahowny
	Sandy Moore	The Wild Dogs
2004 25th Genie Awards
	Terry Frewer	Head in the Clouds
	Benoit Charest	The Triplets of Belleville (Les Triplettes de Belleville)
	Michel Corriveau	The Last Tunnel (Le Dernier tunnel)
	Pierre Duchesne	Looking for Alexander (Mémoires affectives)
	Charles Papasoff	So the Moon Rises (La lune viendra d'elle-même)
2005 26th Genie Awards
	Mychael Danna	Water
	Mychael Danna	Where the Truth Lies
	Longo Hai, Geoff Bennett, Ben Johannesen	Sabah
	Éric Pfalzgraf	Manners of Dying
	Byron Wong	Lie With Me
2006 27th Genie Awards
	Jean Robitaille	Without Her (Sans elle)
	Normand Corbeil	Cheech
	Michel Cusson	The Rocket (Maurice Richard)
	Pierre Desrochers	The Secret Life of Happy People (La Vie secrète des gens heureux)
	Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson	Beowulf & Grendel
2007 28th Genie Awards
	Howard Shore	Eastern Promises
	David Hirschfelder	Shake Hands with the Devil	[9]
	Steve London	That Beautiful Somewhere
	Don MacDonald	Fido
	Ryûichi Sakamoto	Silk
2008 29th Genie Awards
	John McCarthy	The Stone Angel
	Normand Corbeil	Emotional Arithmetic
	Laurent Eyquem	Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's (Maman est chez le coiffeur)
	Nikos Kypourgos	Fugitive Pieces
	Robert Marcel Lepage	The Necessities of Life (Ce qu'il faut pour vivre)
2009 30th Genie Awards
	Normand Corbeil	The Master Key (Grande Ourse: La Clé des possibles)
	Benoît Charest	Polytechnique
	Bertrand Chénier	Love and Savagery
	Christian Clermont	5150 Elm's Way (5150, rue des Ormes)
	Ben Mink	Fifty Dead Men Walking

2010s

Year	Nominee	Film	Ref
2010 31st Genie Awards
	Pasquale Catalano	Barney's Version
	Brendan Canning	Trigger
	Jonathan Goldsmith	High Life
	Keegan Jessamy, Bryce Mitchell	At Home by Myself...With You
	Sook-Yin Lee, Buck 65, Adam Litovitz	Year of the Carnivore
2011 32nd Genie Awards
	Howard Shore	A Dangerous Method
	Ramachandra Borcar	Suspicions (Jaloux)
	Mychael Danna	The Whistleblower
	Martin Léon	Monsieur Lazhar
	Philip Miller	The Bang Bang Club
2012 1st Canadian Screen Awards
	Howard Shore	Cosmopolis
	Benoit Charest	Mars and April (Mars et Avril)
	Noia	Laurence Anyways
	Don Rooke, Hugh Marsh, Michelle Willis	Still Mine
	E. C. Woodley	Antiviral
2013 2nd Canadian Screen Awards
	Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans	Enemy
	Ramachandra Borcar	Rock Paper Scissors (Roche papier ciseaux)
	Michel Cusson	The Storm Within (Rouge sang)
	Kim Gaboury, Michel Cusson	Maïna
	Gabriel Yared	Tom at the Farm (Tom à la ferme)
2014 3rd Canadian Screen Awards
	Howard Shore	Maps to the Stars
	Patrice Dubuc, Gaëtan Gravel	Meetings with a Young Poet
	Patrick Lavoie	Henri Henri
	Dan Mangan, Jesse Zubot	Hector and the Search for Happiness
	Jeffrey Morrow	Cast No Shadow
2015 4th Canadian Screen Awards
	Michael Brook	Brooklyn
	Michel Corriveau	Anna	[10]
	François Dompierre	The Passion of Augustine (La Passion d'Augustine)
	Chris Gestrin	Songs She Wrote About People She Knows
	Stephen Rennicks	Room
2016 5th Canadian Screen Awards
	Todor Kobakov, Steve London, David Braid	Born to Be Blue
	Alain Mayrand	Numb
	Taymaz Saba	Window Horses
	Michael White	Hevn (Revenge)
	Jesse Zubot	Two Lovers and a Bear
2017 6th Canadian Screen Awards
	Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna	The Breadwinner
	Viviane Audet, Robin-Joël Cool, Alexis Martin	Cross My Heart (Les Rois mongols)
	Pierre-Philippe Côté	Ravenous (Les Affamés)
	Ben Fox	Never Steady, Never Still
	Terry Riley, Gyan Riley	Hochelaga, Land of Souls (Hochelaga terre des âmes)
2018 7th Canadian Screen Awards
	Alaska B	Through Black Spruce
	Olivier Alary	Allure
	Philippe Brault	The Fireflies Are Gone (La disparition des lucioles)
	Naren Chandavarkar, Benedict Taylor	Black Kite
	Yves Gourmeur	The Hummingbird Project
2019 8th Canadian Screen Awards
	Howard Shore	The Song of Names
	Robert Carli	Lie Exposed	[11]
	Peter Chapman	Riot Girls
	Ian LeFeuvre, Stephen Krecklo	James vs. His Future Self
	Andrew Lockington	The Kindness of Strangers

2020s

Year	Nominee	Film	Ref
2020 9th Canadian Screen Awards
	Howard Shore	Funny Boy	[12]
	Janal Bechthold	Marlene	[13]
	Mychael Danna	Guest of Honour
	Jay McCarrol	The Kid Detective
	Michelle Osis, Lowell Boland	Bloodthirsty
2021 10th Canadian Screen Awards
	Jonathan Goldsmith	All My Puny Sorrows	[14]
	Suad Bushnaq	Jasmine Road	[15]
	Spencer Creaghan	Motherly
	Darren Fung	Cinema of Sleep
	Stephen Krecklo	Between Waves
2022 11th Canadian Screen Awards
	Todor Kobakov	Brother	[16]
	Adrian Ellis	Cult Hero	[17]
	Ian LeFeuvre	Ashgrove
	Ari Posner	The End of Sex
	Howard Shore	Crimes of the Future
2023 12th Canadian Screen Awards
	Jay McCarrol	BlackBerry	[18]
	Alysha Brilla	The Queen of My Dreams	[19]
	Suad Bushnaq	Queen Tut
	Steph Copeland	Cascade
	Ryan Shore	Zombie Town

See also

• Prix Iris for Best Original Music
• List of film music awards § Best score

References

1. Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-7737-3238-1.
2. Jay Scott, "Changeling leads Canadian Film Award nominees". The Globe and Mail, February 8, 1980.
3. Jay Scott, "Les Plouffe, Ticket to Heaven lead the pack: Academy lists Genie nominees". The Globe and Mail, February 4, 1982.
4. Jay Scott, "Top Genie prospects for Jack Miner move". The Globe and Mail, February 10, 1983.
5. Jay Scott, "Cronenberg film earns a dozen nominations: Dead Ringers tops Genie list". The Globe and Mail, February 14, 1989.
6. "The Lotus Eaters strong contender at Genies". The Globe and Mail, December 11, 1993.
7. Gayle MacDonald, "Sunshine floods Genies International co-production sweeps award nominations, with Felicia's Journey, Five Senses, eXistenZ also in running for best picture prize to be announced next month". The Globe and Mail, December 8, 1999.
8. "Inuit film runs away with five Genies; Atanarjuat takes best picture, director, screenplay, editing and original score". Waterloo Region Record, February 8, 2002.
9. "Genie Awards in brief". Daily Gleaner, March 3, 2008.
10. Brent Furdyk, "2016 Canadian Screen Awards Nominees Announced". ET Canada, January 19, 2016.
11. "Écrans canadiens : Song of Names, The Twentieth Century et Antigone en tête des nominations". Ici Radio-Canada, February 18, 2020.
12. Naman Ramachandran, "‘Schitt’s Creek,’ ‘Blood Quantum’ Triumph at Canadian Screen Awards". Variety, May 21, 2021.
13. Brent Furdyk (March 30, 2021). "Canadian Screen Awards Announces 2021 Film Nominations". ET Canada. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021.
14. "Night Raiders, Scarborough emerge victorious at 5th night of Canadian Screen Awards". CBC News, April 8, 2022.
15. Brent Furdyk, "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, ‘Sort Of’ & ‘Scarborough’ Lead The Pack". ET Canada, February 15, 2022.
16. Jenna Benchetrit, "Brother dominates with a dozen wins on third night of Canadian Screen Awards". CBC News, April 13, 2023.
17. Charles-Henri Ramond, "Écrans canadiens – Viking,13 nominations". Films du Québec, February 22, 2023.
18. Connie Thiessen, "Canadian Screen Awards winners: Cinematic Arts". Broadcast Dialogue, May 30, 2024.
19. "BlackBerry Leads CSA Nominations". Northern Stars, March 6, 2024.