Oscar Winner Predictions: Best Original Score

The competition: How to Train Your Dragon, Inception, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network

Previous winners: Up, Slumdog Millionaire, Atonement, Babel, Brokeback Mountain, Finding Neverland
Who should win: Inception
Who will win: This is a three-way race with no clear frontrunner. “The Social Network,” scored by first-time nominees Trent Rozner and Atticus Ross, won the Golden Globe and has the “cool” factor. Hans Zimmer, who won for “The Lion King” back in 1994, is up for “Inception,” which utilizes music heavily in relation to its storyline. Alexandre Desplat, a four-time nominee who has yet to win, is up for “The King’s Speech,” which may make a clean sweep of all its nominated categories. Also in the running is first-time nominee John Powell, whose thunderous score for “How to Train Your Dragon” doesn’t have a chance at winning. A.R. Rahman had his time in the sun when he wrote the music for the film of the year back in 2008, “Slumdog Millionaire,” and therefore “127 Hours” will have to settle for just a nomination here. My bet to win this thing is The Social Network in a tight race over “The King’s Speech.”