Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special
Country	United States
Presented by	Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
First awarded	2019
Currently held by	David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2021)
Website	emmys.com

This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special.

The category was created in 2019. Documentary programs previously competed for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special.^[1]

Winners and nominations[]

2010s[]

Year	Program	Episode	Nominee(s)	Network
2019 (71st) ^[2]
	Free Solo		Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts	Nat Geo
	Game of Thrones: The Last Watch		Hannah Peel	HBO
	Hostile Planet	"Oceans"	Benjamin Wallfisch	Nat Geo
	Love, Gilda		Miriam Cutler	CNN
	Our Planet	"One Planet"	Steven Price	Netflix
	RBG		Miriam Cutler	CNN

2020s[]

Year	Program	Episode	Nominee(s)	Network
2020 (72nd) ^[3]
	Why We Hate	"Tools & Tactics"	Laura Karpman	Discovery
	Becoming		Kamasi Washington	Netflix
	Home	"Maine"	Amanda Jones	Apple TV+
	McMillion$	"Episode 1"	Alex Kovacs and Pinar Toprak	HBO
	Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness	"Not Your Average Joe"	John Enroth, Albert Fox and Mark Mothersbaugh	Netflix
2021 (73rd) ^[4]
	David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet		Steven Price	Netflix
	Allen v. Farrow	"Episode 4"	Michael Abels	HBO
	American Masters	"Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir"	Kamasi Washington	PBS
	The Social Dilemma		Mark Crawford	Netflix
	Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre		Branford Marsalis	History

Multiple nominations[]

2 nominations

References[]

^ "Television Academy Rules Changes for 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. December 13, 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
^ "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
^ "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
^ "Nominees/Winners | Television Academy". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved July 15, 2021.

v t Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special
Marco Beltrami & Brandon Roberts (2019) Laura Karpman (2020) Steven Price (2021)

v t Primetime Emmy Award categories
Programs	Comedy Series Drama Series Limited or Anthology Series Television Movie Competition Program Variety Talk Series Variety Sketch Series Animated Program Short Form Animated Program Documentary or Nonfiction Series Documentary or Nonfiction Special Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series Structured Reality Program Unstructured Reality Program Variety Special (Live) Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)
Performance	Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Lead Actor in a Drama Series Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Lead Actress in a Drama Series Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Guest Actor in a Drama Series Guest Actress in a Comedy Series Guest Actress in a Drama Series Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series Character Voice-Over Performance Host for a Reality or Competition Program Narrator
Directing	Directing for a Comedy Series Directing for a Drama Series Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Directing for a Variety Series Directing for a Variety Special Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program Directing for a Reality Program
Writing	Writing for a Comedy Series Writing for a Drama Series Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Writing for a Variety Series Writing for a Variety Special Writing for a Nonfiction Programming
Animation	Individual Achievement in Animation
Casting	Casting for a Comedy Series Casting for a Drama Series Casting for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Casting for a Reality Program
Choreography	Choreography for Scripted Programming Choreography for Variety and Reality Programming
Cinematography	Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program Cinematography for a Reality Program Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour) Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour)
Commercials	Commercial
Costume Design	Contemporary Costumes Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes Period Costumes Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Programming
Hairstyling	Contemporary Hairstyling Contemporary Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program Period and/or Character Hairstyling
Interactive Media	Interactive Program Original Interactive Program Creative Achievement in Interactive Media within a Scripted Program Creative Achievement in Interactive Media within an Unscripted Program
Lighting	Lighting Design / Lighting Direction for a Variety Series Lighting Design / Lighting Direction for a Variety Special
Makeup	Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) Contemporary Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program (Non-Prosthetic) Period and/or Character Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) Prosthetic Makeup
Music	Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special Music Composition for a Series Music Direction Music Supervision Original Main Title Theme Music Original Music and Lyrics
Picture Editing	Multi-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program Picture Editing for a Structured or Competition Reality Program Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program Picture Editing for Variety Programming Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Production Design	Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More) Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour or Less) Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Competition Series Production Design for a Variety Special
Sound Editing	Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour) Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program (Single or Multi-Camera)
Sound Mixing	Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour) Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program (Single or Multi-Camera) Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special
Special Effects	Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie / Special and Visual Effects in a Single Episode
Stunts	Stunt Coordination Stunt Performance
Technical Direction	Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Special
Title Design	Main Title Design
Engineering	Engineering Philo T. Farnsworth Award
Retired	Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series Children's Program Costumes for a Series Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special Hairstyling for a Limited Series or Movie Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) New Series Program of the Year Short Form Comedy or Drama Series Short Form Variety Series Super Emmy Variety Series Voice-Over Performance