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Staples Grad Wins Golden Globe For Best Song From P.T. Barnum Movie

WESTPORT, Conn. — For the second year in a row, Staples High School grad Justin Paul and his writing partner, Benj Pasek, won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.

Justin Paul and Benj Pasek accept the Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture on Sunday night. They won for the song "This is Me" from the P.T. Barnum movie "The Greatest Showman."

Justin Paul and Benj Pasek accept the Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture on Sunday night. They won for the song "This is Me" from the P.T. Barnum movie "The Greatest Showman."

 Photo Credit: NBC Screenshot
Daily Voice

They accepted the award during Sunday night's telecast on NBC. 

Their winning song is "This is Me" from the movie-musical "The Greatest Showman," which is about Bridgeport's own P.T. Barnum. The song is performed by Keala Settle.

The other nominees were: 

  • "Home" from the movie "Ferdinand." Music by Nick Jonas, Nick Monson & Justin Tranter, Lyrics by Jonas & Tranter, Performed by Jonas
  • "Mighty River" from "Mudbound." Music by Raphael Saadiq, Lyrics by Mary J. Blige, Saadiq, & Taura Stinson, Performed by Blige 
  • "Remember Me" from "Coco." Music & Lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez, Performed by Benjamin Bratt 
  • "The Star" from "The Star." Music & Lyrics by Mariah Carey & Marc Shaiman, Performed by Carey  

Last year, they won the Golden Globe for the song "City of Stars" from "La La Land." The songwriting duo also won the Academy Award last year for that song. 

This won't be the only awards show for the pair this month. On Jan. 28, they will attend the Grammy Awards, where they are nominated for:

  • Best Musical Theater album for the Broadway smash hit "Dear Evan Hansen."
  • Best Song Written For Visual Media for the song "City of Stars" from the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning movie "La La Land."

These are the first Grammy nominations for the pair.

It's a big year for Pasek and Paul. They have been tapped to write new songs for Disney's 2019 live-action film adaptation of "Aladdin" in collaboration with Alan Menken, as well as songs for Disney's upcoming live-action film adaptation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves."

They also won a Tony Award last year for Best Original Score for the acclaimed "Dear Evan Hansen."

The two started working together as freshmen at the University of Michigan, where they earned degrees in musical theater. Pasek usually writes the lyrics and Paul usually writes the music, but they share credit for both elements of the songwriting.

Paul moved to Westport when he was 6 and is a Staples High School graduate.

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