BMI honored the composers of music featured in the past year's top-grossing films, top-rated prime-time network television series and highest-ranking cable network programs May 21 at its annual Film & Television Awards. Held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the black-tie gala was hosted by BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and Film/TV Relations Vice President Doreen Ringer Ross, who handed out more than 80 BMI Crystals throughout the evening.

View Full List of Award Winners

A highlight of the ceremony took the form of the Richard Kirk Award presentation to esteemed composer Christopher Young. Named after late BMI Vice President Richard Kirk, the prestigious award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music. As the 2008 honoree, Christopher Young joins an elite list of peers that includes George S. Clinton, Harry Gregson-Williams (PRS), Jerry Goldsmith, Thomas Newman, Michael Kamen, Mark Mothersbaugh, Danny Elfman, Alan Menken, Mike Post, Lalo Schifrin and John Williams.

Award-winning composer Christopher Young has carved out an enviable niche in the upper pantheon of Hollywood composers. The UCLA Film School alumnus first turned heads with fiendish scores for horror and science fiction projects, and he proceeded to garner accolades for work on macabre and fantastical films including Hellraiser, its Saturn award-winning sequel and Species, along with BMI award-winners Ghost Rider, The Grudge and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Young became a master of suspense, composing music for thrillers including Copycat and BMI honoree Entrapment, as well as dramatic and critical tours-de-force including Golden Globe nominee The Shipping News, Wonder Boys, Rounders and BMI award-winner Swordfish. He also fleshed out the haunting nuances and electrifying action sequences of box office gold Spiderman 3. The New Jersey native has also excelled in television composition, earning two Emmy nominations for telefilms Last Flight Out and Norma Jean & Marilyn. A dedicated mentor, Young has taught classes at USC, served as an advisor for the Sundance Institute's Film Composers Lab and created an innovative residential development to house aspiring composers in Los Angeles.

BMI also presented the Classic Contribution Award to Peter Golub in recognition of his progressive direction of the Sundance Institute's Film Composers Lab for the past ten years. An accomplished composer of film, theatre, ballet and concert works, Golub is a natural fit for the lab, which aims to enhance the role of music in independent film. His acute composition work includes scores for documentaries I.O.U.S.A. and Wordplay, along with films including The Great Debaters. Universally acknowledged as an unparalleled apprenticeship for the next generation of composing elite, the workshop has invaluably benefited from Golub's creative intuition and steady guidance.

BMI's Emmy-winning composers were also feted; the accomplished list included George Fenton (PRS) for the awe-inspiring documentary Planet Earth: Pole to Pole; William Ross for the 79th Annual Academy Awards; Lenny Williams for Nature: Christmas in Yellowstone; Yoav Goren for The XX Olympic Winter Games: The Stories of Torino; Katreese Barnes for Saturday Night Live's "Dick in a Box"; Gary Deinstadt, Billy Barber, Ron Komie, Danny Pelfrey and David Traugh for Guiding Light; along with Wes Boatman and John Henry Kreitler for "Love is Ecstasy" from Passions.

Legendary rocker turned lauded composer Pete Townshend (PRS) took home the evening's most awards, with three BMI Crystals for CSI, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. Composers garnering two awards each were Steve Jablonsky for Transformers and Desperate Housewives; Rupert Gregson-Williams (PRS) for Bee Movie and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry; George Fenton for Fool's Gold and Planet Earth: Pole to Pole; Mychael Danna for Surf's Up and Medium; Aaron Zigman for Step Up 2: The Streets and Why Did I Get Married?; Kevin Kiner for Amazing Race and CSI: Miami; Mike Post for Law & Order and Law & Order SVU; and Matt Koskenmaki for Hell's Kitchen and The Ultimate Fighter.

The night's winning composers for top-grossing films and critically acclaimed gems also included past Richard Kirk Award recipient Harry Gregson-Williams (PRS) for Shrek the Third, Trevor Rabin for National Treasure: Book of Secrets, legendary composer and past Richard Kirk Award recipient Lalo Schifrin for Rush Hour 3, John Ottman for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Mark Mancina for television drama Criminal Minds, Randy Edelman for romantic comedy 27 Dresses, Tyler Bates for horror favorite Halloween and pop music architect Brian Wilson for HBO dramedy series Big Love.

2007 BMI London Awards Song List

Gabriel’s achievements, whether musical, visual or humanitarian, are the work of a true visionary. The co-founder of rock band Genesis, Gabriel left the group in 1975 to begin a critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning solo career. Thus far, he has released 11 albums featuring self-penned gems and BMI million-performance songs, including “Big Time,” “Solsbury Hill,” “Sledgehammer” and “In Your Eyes,” and composed soundtracks for numerous films, including Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. Amongst other bold endeavors, Gabriel founded Real World companies in 1987, housing his recording, publishing, film and multi-media ventures under one progressive roof. An early participant in Human Rights Now! and recipient of the Nobel Peace Laureates’ “Man of Peace” Award, Peter Gabriel founded world human rights advocacy supergroup TheElders.org in July 2007, with Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela.

“Unwritten,” co-penned by Danielle Brisebois and Natasha Bedingfield (PRS), received one of the organization’s highest accolades, the Robert S. Musel Award for Song of the Year. The award, named after the U.S. performing right organization’s longtime consultant to the U.K., annually honors the most-performed song of the year written by a member or members of BMI’s European sister organizations. Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS) and recorded by Bedingfield, “Unwritten” was the title track to Bedingfield’s platinum-selling debut album.

International phenomenon “Crazy,” co-written by GianFranco Reverberi and GianPiero Reverberi (both SIAE), along with Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo Green, earned BMI’s College Song of the Year crown for tallying the most performances on American college radio. Published by Universal Music Publishing Ricordi srl (SIAE) and Warner/Chappell Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS), the award-winning song first leapt to the top of the British charts solely thanks to digital downloads.

Bestowed on the song with the most hits on BMI-licensed websites, the Internet Award went to James Blunt’s infectious “You’re Beautiful,” co-authored by Blunt, Amanda Ghost and Sacha Skarbek (all PRS), and published by Bucks Music Group Ltd. and EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (both PRS).

The Gorillaz’s “Dare,” co-written by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (both PRS), took home BMI’s Dance Award. Also published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS) and featuring the vocal stylings of Shaun Ryder, “Dare” debuted atop the UK singles chart, officially making it the Gorillaz’s first No. 1 hit in Britain.

Prestigious “Million-Air” certificates were also presented throughout the evening in recognition of those songs that have achieved over three million U.S. radio and television performances — the equivalent of more than 17 years of continuous airplay. The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” topped the list, with a staggering nine-million performance award for songwriter Sting (PRS). Sting was also honored for five-million performance song “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” Living legend Van Morrison (PRS) penned two hits on the list: his classic “Brown Eyed Girl,” which has amassed eight million performances, and four million performance song “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You.” Additional “Million-Air” recipients included Sir Elton John, John Lennon, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Sir Trevor Nunn, Lord Lloyd Webber, Shania Twain and Steve Winwood (all PRS).

KT Tunstall (BMI), Harry Gregson-Williams, Rupert Gregson-Williams, Natasha Bedingfield, James Blunt, Pete Townshend, Snow Patrol members Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Paul Wilson, Tom Simpson and Jonny Quinn (all PRS), along with Alexandre Desplat (SACEM) and Karl Bartos (GEMA), garnered multiple awards in recognition of their songwriting skills: each composed two or more songs on the most-performed Pop, Film, Television, Cable, Emmy, Golden Globe or Urban Award lists. Reflecting music’s increasingly global reach, BMI also honored two Jamaican hitmakers alongside the European songwriters and publishers. Don Corleon, writer of "Break It Off" and "When you Gonna (Give it Up to Me),” and “Break It Off” co-writer Kirk Ford both received their first London Awards.

High-resolution photos from the event will be available to registered users only at bmi.com/press. To request access, please contact mediarelations@bmi.com.

Early in his career, working on The Prince of Egypt with composer Hans Zimmer, Gregson-Williams observed that Zimmer enlisted outside artists to embellish his score with a distinctive aura. He uses an expression from his native England, “horses for courses” — urging someone to do what he does best — to describe the collaborative sound of Hotel Rwanda that included contributions from Afro-Celt Sound System and a co-composer, Andrea Guerra. For the animated tale of a gluttonous raccoon, a lovelorn turtle, and encroaching suburbia in Over The Hedge, Gregson-Williams shared musical responsibilities with singer/songwriter Ben Folds.

Although Rupert’s brother, Harry Gregson-Williams, is also a film composer, the two shun shoptalk, preferring instead English sports. “We’re big into rugby, cricket and soccer,” says Rupert. His breadth of assignments, he concludes, is what keeps his career interesting. “To go from a powerful drama in Africa to a fun film like Over the Hedge — if I did get pigeonholed it would become tricky. I’d have to take my mandolin and go to the hills for a bit.”