ASCAP Screen Awards Honor ‘Wicked,’ ‘Palm Royale,’ ‘Pluribus’ Composers

At the annual ASCAP Screen Music Awards Tuesday night, the performing rights organization announced the winners of its Composers Choice Awards, a set of honors voted upon by members, with trophies going to the scorers for “Wicked: For Good,” “Palm Royale,” “Stranger Things,” “Pluribus” and the latest “Star Wars” video game, among other projects.

David Vanacore was the most celebrated composer of the evening, picking up the Golden Note Award for his entire career, but also getting the annual kudos that have regularly become his due on top of the lifetime achievement honor. Vanacore (pictured above with Paul Williams and Elizabeth Matthews) picked up his 11th consecutive honor as the top winner in the category of most performed themes & underscore; it was also his 22nd consecutive time being honored in the category overall.

John Powell and Stephen Schwartz won the film score of the year award for the conclusion of the “Wicked” two-parter. Jeff Toyne picked up television score of the year for “Palm Royale.” In the television theme of the year category, there was a tie between Dave Porter’s “Pluribus” theme and Kyle Dixon’s and Michael Stein’s work on “Stranger Things.”

Documentary film score of the year went to Blair Mowat for “The Age of Disclosure.” Amanda Jones picked up the documentary series score of the year award for “Hurricane Katrina: Rage Against Time.”

“Star Wars Outlaws: A Pirate’s Fortune” was the winner for video game score of the year, with honors going to the trio of Wilbert Roget II, Jon Everist and Cody Matthew Johnson.

Other ASCAP Screen Music Awards were based on data and not a member vote. Michael Giacchino was the receipient of the award for top domestic box office film of the year for “Zootopia 2.” Jake Staley won top network television series for “High Potential.” John Sereda got the top cable television series award for “When Calls the Heart.”

ASCAP’s complete list of winners can be found here.