Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

There is a prize for music in films and television. It is called the Hollywood Music in Media Awards. This is the seventeenth year of the prize.

The list of names came out this week. Taylor Swift is on the list. She wrote a song for the film Toy Story 5. The song is called I Knew It, I Knew You. She wrote it with Jack Antonoff.

Other famous singers are on the list too. Miley Cyrus is there. Noah Kahan is there. Jennifer Hudson and Andrea Bocelli sing a song by Diane Warren.

The show is on Wednesday 18 November. It is at a building called the Avalon in Hollywood.

a prize

Something you win for doing well.

a film

A story you watch at the cinema or at home.

a list

Names or things written one under the other.

a song

A short piece of music with words to sing.

to write

To put words or music on paper or on a screen.

famous

Known by very many people.

a singer

A person who sings, often as a job.

a show

An event that people watch, such as a concert or a ceremony.

Level 2 — Elementary

The nominations for the seventeenth Hollywood Music in Media Awards were published this week. The awards celebrate songs and scores written for films, television and games. The winners will be announced on Wednesday 18 November at the Avalon on Vine Street in Hollywood.

Taylor Swift is nominated in the category for the best song in an animated film. Her song is called I Knew It, I Knew You, from Toy Story 5, and she wrote it with Jack Antonoff. Toy Story 5 is nominated a second time for its score, which was composed by Randy Newman.

The list of nominees is full of well known names. Diane Warren wrote One Right Here for the film Maserati: The Brothers, and it is performed by Andrea Bocelli and Jennifer Hudson. Miley Cyrus is nominated for Younger You from a Hannah Montana anniversary special. Noah Kahan wrote Draw You Out with Aaron Dessner for a new Hunger Games film, and Charli XCX is nominated for a song from Wuthering Heights.

Film composers are honoured too. John Williams is nominated for Disclosure Day, Hans Zimmer for Dune: Part Three, and Ludwig Goransson for The Odyssey. Five productions are tied with three nominations each. Last year two winners of this award, a song from K-Pop Demon Hunters and the score for Sinners, went on to win Oscars.

a nomination

The act of putting someone on the list of possible winners.

a score

All the background music written for a film or a game.

a category

A group of similar things judged together.

to compose

To write a piece of music.

a nominee

A person or work that has been nominated.

to perform

To sing, act or play music for an audience.

a composer

A person who writes music.

tied

Equal with another, with the same score or number.

Level 3 — Intermediate

The seventeenth Hollywood Music in Media Awards published their nominations this week, and the headline name is predictable but the context is not. Taylor Swift is shortlisted for I Knew It, I Knew You, written with Jack Antonoff and performed by Swift, in the category for best song in an animated film. The film in question is Toy Story 5, which collects a second nomination for Randy Newman's score. The ceremony will be held on Wednesday 18 November at the Avalon, the historic venue at 1735 Vine Street in the middle of Hollywood.

What makes this particular awards body worth watching is less the glamour than the forecasting record. Its voting academy is drawn from selected journalists together with voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Recording Academy and the Television Academy, which gives the results an early read on the taste of three different electorates at once. Last season a song from K-Pop Demon Hunters and the score for Sinners both won here and went on to take Oscars.

The song categories are unusually crowded this year. Diane Warren, long the most reliably nominated songwriter in the business, is listed for One Right Here from Maserati: The Brothers, performed by Andrea Bocelli and Jennifer Hudson. Miley Cyrus appears with Younger You from the Hannah Montana twentieth anniversary special, co-written with a team of five others. Noah Kahan and Aaron Dessner wrote Draw You Out for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Charli XCX is nominated for House Featuring John Cale from Wuthering Heights, and The Odyssey yields When I'm Home, credited to James Blake, Travis Scott, Ludwig Goransson and the film's director, Christopher Nolan.

Among the composers, John Williams is nominated for Disclosure Day and Hans Zimmer for Dune: Part Three, while Goransson takes a score nomination for The Odyssey. Five titles are tied at the top with three nominations each: Behemoth!, The Odyssey, Michael, Brother Verses Brother and Linda Perry: Let It Die Here. Daniel Pemberton and Mina Samy lead the individual count with four nominations apiece. The organisers have also made a point of their road safety partnership this year; the founder and executive producer Brent Harvey said the aim is for the audience to have a great time, with the security of knowing they have a designated driver.

to shortlist

To place on a final list of candidates for a prize.

a venue

The place where an event is held.

glamour

An attractive and exciting quality associated with fame and wealth.

a forecasting record

A history of correctly predicting later outcomes.

an electorate

The whole body of people entitled to vote.

crowded

Containing many competitors, leaving little room.

to yield

To produce or give rise to something.

Level 4 — Advanced

Awards season does not begin with the Oscars; it begins with the small ceremonies that function as weather stations, and the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, now in their seventeenth year, are among the more instructive of them. The nominations published this week place Taylor Swift in the animated film song category for I Knew It, I Knew You, written with Jack Antonoff and performed by Swift for Toy Story 5, a film which also draws a score nomination for Randy Newman. The ceremony is set for Wednesday 18 November at the Avalon, 1735 Vine Street, with tickets already on sale and performers still to be announced.

The predictive value of this particular list rests on the composition of its jury. Voting is conducted by a body of selected journalists sitting alongside voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Recording Academy and the Television Academy, which means the outcome samples three professional constituencies that rarely agree with one another in public. The evidence for the method is recent: last season both Golden, from K-Pop Demon Hunters, and the score for Sinners won here before winning Oscars. One should resist treating that as a law, since two data points are an anecdote rather than a trend, but the organisers are entitled to cite it.

The song field repays close reading. Diane Warren, whose nomination tally has long since passed the point of novelty, is listed for One Right Here from Maserati: The Brothers, delivered by Andrea Bocelli and Jennifer Hudson, a pairing engineered for the room. Miley Cyrus arrives with Younger You, from the Hannah Montana twentieth anniversary special, co-written with Michael Pollack, Stefan Johnson, Jordan K. Johnson, Gregory Hein and Jon Bellion, a credit list that illustrates how contemporary pop songwriting is actually organised. Noah Kahan and Aaron Dessner contribute Draw You Out to The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping; Charli XCX is nominated for House Featuring John Cale from Wuthering Heights; and When I'm Home, from The Odyssey, is credited to James Blake, Travis Scott, Ludwig Goransson and Christopher Nolan, a director not usually found among songwriters. Ed Sheeran appears as a writer on a Paw Patrol song performed by the Backstreet Boys, which is either a sign of the times or a reassurance that nothing changes.

In the score categories John Williams is nominated for Disclosure Day and Hans Zimmer for Dune: Part Three, a sentence that could plausibly have been written in any year since 1978, with Goransson nominated for The Odyssey. Five productions are tied on three nominations apiece: Behemoth!, The Odyssey, Michael, Brother Verses Brother and Linda Perry: Let It Die Here. Daniel Pemberton and Mina Samy top the individual table with four each. A caution for anyone transcribing the list: the two outlets carrying the press release differ on several writing credits, including the authorship of Someone to Hold from Steps and of the Resident Evil score, so the fine print is worth checking against the organisers' own text before it is repeated.