The World Soundtrack Academy has announced its nominees for the 2010 Awards, to be presented in three categories: Film Composer of the Year, Best Original Score of the Year and Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film.

The winners will be announced at the World Soundtrack Awards 10th Anniversary Gala on Oct 23, as part of the closing night of the Ghent International Film Festival.

At the end of August, the Academy Board will announce the five nominees for the category Discovery of the Year 2010.

The nominees for the World Soundtrack Awards 2010:

Film Composer of the Year
• Alexandre Desplat – Fantastic Mr. Fox, New Moon, Julie & Julia, The Ghost Writer
• Hans Zimmer – Sherlock Holmes, Despicable Me, It’s Complicated
• Danny Elfman – Alice in Wonderland, The Wolfman
• John Powell – Green Zone, How To Train Your Dragon, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Knight & Day
• Carter Burwell – The Blind Side, A Serious Man, Where the Wild Things Are, Howl, The Kids Are All Right

Best Original Film Score of the Year
Fantastic Mr. Fox – Alexandre Desplat
Avatar – James Horner
Where the Wild Things Are – Carter Burwell & Karen Orzolek
A Single Man – Abel Korzeniowski
Sherlock Holmes – Hans Zimmer

Best Original Song Written Directly For a Film

• ‘Almost There’
from The Princess and the Frog
music & lyrics by Randy Newman
performed by Anika Noni Rose

• ‘I See You’
from Avatar
music by James Horner & Simon Franglen
lyrics by James Horner, Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell
performed by Leona Lewis

• ‘I Want To Come Home’
from Everybody’s Fine
music & lyrics by Paul McCartney
performed by Paul McCartney

• ‘Sticks & Stones’
from How to Train Your Dragon
music & lyrics by Jon Birgisson
performed by Jonsi

• The Weary Kind
from Crazy Heart
music & lyrics by Ryan Bingham & T-Bone Burnett
performed by Ryan Bingham (& Jeff Bridges)

Following the Awards presentations, 11 composers will be appearing live in concert including Oscar-winners Howard Shore (Lord Of The Rings trilogy), Elliot Goldenthal (Frida, Interview With A Vampire), Gabriel Yared (The English Patient), Gustavo Santaolalla (Babel, Brokeback Mountain) and Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare In Love).

The World Soundtrack Academy was founded in 2001 by the Ghent International Film Festival to celebrate the role of music in film and honour film composers.