The Original Score Oscar - my ballot.

Just a way to keep things fresh, this was inspired by the most recent Film Score Friday post where Scott Bettencourt listed his choices for the Original Score Oscar throughout his lifetime.

This may be kind of a cheat because - unlike him, I'm sure - I haven't listened to every single nominee for Original Score...and I'm not sure I want to, but I don't have the patience to wait months (maybe years) to catch up with all of them, so here we go.

Close runner-up in parentheses, while the actual winner is in italics; hey, the Academy gets it right, sometimes!

1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982: E.T. - the Extra-Terrestrial (Poltergeist)
1983: Under Fire
1984: A Passage to India (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
1985: Out of Africa
1986: Hoosiers (The Mission)
1987: The Witches of Eastwick (The Untouchables)
1988: The Accidental Tourist (Dangerous Liaisons)
1989: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1990: Home Alone
1991: The Fisher King (JFK)
1992: Chaplin (Basic Instinct)
1993: Schindler's List
1994: The Shawshank Redemption
1995: Sabrina
1996: The First Wives Club
1997: Anastasia
1998: Mulan (Pleasantville)
1999: The Talented Mr. Ripley
2000: Chocolat
2001: Monsters, Inc.
2002: Catch Me If You Can
2003: Finding Nemo
2004: Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events
2005: Munich
2006: The Good German
2007: Ratatouille
2008: WALL-E
2009: Sherlock Holmes (Up)
2010: How to Train Your Dragon
2011: The Adventures of Tintin (Hugo)
2012: Skyfall
2013: Saving Mr. Banks
2014: The Grand Budapest Hotel
2015: The Hateful Eight
2016: Jackie
2017: The Shape of Water
2018: Black Panther (BlacKkKlansman)
2019: Little Women
2020: Da 5 Bloods (Mank)
2021: Don't Look Up
2022: The Banshees of Inisherin
2023: American Fiction
2024: The Wild Robot