Film Music Reporter

BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) announced today that it will present legendary film composer John Williams with a special award bearing his name in recognition of his incomparable status as one of the greatest film and television composers of our time. The John Williams Award will be presented for the first time at the 34th annual BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards on Wednesday, May 9 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. Williams previously received the organization’s The Kirk Award in 1999, which later became the BMI Icon Award, for composing some of the most popular and recognizable scores in cinematic history such as the Star Wars series, Jaws, Schindler’s List, the Indiana Jones series, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, among many others. Other honorees at the event  hosted by BMI President and CEO Mike O’Neill and BMI Vice President Creative – Film, TV & Visual Media Doreen Ringer-Ross will include Laura Karpman, Miriam Cutler & Lolita Ritmanis will be receiving the BMI Champion Award for their commitment to supporting fellow women media composers through The Alliance of Women Film Composers, which they founded in 2014. Composer Rick Baitz will also be presented with BMI’s Classic Contribution Award in appreciation of creating and leading BMI’s successful “Composing for the Screen” workshop for the past ten years. Throughout the evening, composers of the previous year’s top-grossing films, top-rated primetime network television series and highest-ranking cable and streamed media programs will also be recognized.