"Hanna" composers The Chemical Brothers, nominated for Breakout Composer of the Year

Credit: AP Photo/Jonathan Short

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I'd like to humbly make a (self-serving) request of the International Film Music Critics Association. Bump your announcement up by a couple of weeks. Granted, you don't speak for composers, so your annual announcement of the best in film music doesn't necessarily indicate anything. But in a category with precious little in the way of precursor suggestion, every little bit helps.

This year's list of nominees was predictably dominated, however, by John Williams, who landed seven nominations across the various categories for his two Oscar-nominated scores: "The Adventures of Tintin" and "War Horse." Not too far back with five nods was "The Artist" composer Ludovic Bource.

Third was Michael Giacchino, who landed a nomination each for "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" and "Super 8" and was singled out in the Film Composer of the Year category as well. And Howard Shore had a decent showing for "Hugo," popping up twice.

Interestingly, though he was spotlighted in the Composer of the Year field, Alexandre Desplat's work only showed up once, as "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" was nominated in one of the genre fields. Nothing for "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," "A Better Life," "Carnage" or "The Ides of March." What gives?

Winners will be announced on February 23. Recent champions in the Film Score of the Year category include "How to Train Your Dragon," "Up," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Atonement," "Lady in the Water," "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "The Incredibles."

Check out the full list of nominees below, and as always, remember to keep track of the ups and downs of the 2011-2012 film awards season via The Circuit.

Film Score of the Year

Film Composer of the Year
Ludovic Bource
Alexandre Desplat
Michael Giacchino
Albert Iglesias
John Williams

Breakout Composer of the Year
Ludovic Bource
Brian Byrne
The Chemical Brothers
Michael Richard Plowman
Lucas Vidal

Best Original Score for a Drama Film
"The Artist" (Ludovic Bource)
"Jane Eyre" (Dario Marianelli)
"Soul Surfer" (Marco Beltrami)
"W.E." (Abel Korzeniowsi)
"War Horse" (John Williams)

Best Original Score for a Comedy Film
"Paul" (David Arnold)
"The Rum Diary" (Christopher Young)
"Torrente 4: Letal Crisis" (Roque Baños)
"A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas" (William Ross)
"Your Highness" (Steve Jablonsky)

Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
"Captain America: The First Avenger" (Alan Silvestri)
"Drive" (Cliff Martinez)
"Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (Michael Giacchino)
"Real Steel" (Danny Elfman)
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (Patrick Doyle)

Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film
"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" (Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders)
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" (Alexandre Desplat)
"Hugo" (Howard Shore)
"Priest" (Christopher Young)
"Super 8" (Michael Giacchino)

Best Original Score for an Animated Feature
"The Adventures of Tintin" (John Williams)
"The Greatest Miracle" (Mark McKenzie)
"Kung Fu Panda 2" (John Powell, Hans Zimmer)
"Puss in Boots" (Henry Jackman)
"Rango" (Hans Zimmer)

Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature
"Frozen Planet" (George Fenton)
"Hold at All Costs: The Story of the Battle of Outpost Harry" (Larry Groupé)
"Jig" (Patrick Doyle)
"Russland - Im Reich Der Tiger Bären Und Vulkane" (Kolja Erdmann)
"The Wind Gods" (Pinar Toprak)

Film Music Composition of the Year
"The Adventure Continues" from "The Adventures of Tintin" (John Williams)
"George Valentin" from "The Artist" (Ludovic Bource)
"Captain America March" from "Captain America: The First Avenger" (Alan Silvestri)
"Final Round" from "Real Steel" (Danny Elfman)
"The Homecoming" from "War Horse" (John Williams)

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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Kristopher Tapley
Editor-at-Large

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Kristopher Tapley has covered the film awards landscape for over a decade. He founded In Contention in 2005. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Times of London and Variety. He begs you not to take any of this too seriously.