Oscar-winning German composer Hans Zimmer is to be honoured for his contribution to music at this year's (13) Classic Brit awards.

Zimmer has scored the music for films including Gladiator and The Lion King, for which he won an Academy Award in 1995, and his work will be celebrated at the prestigious U.K. prizegiving later this year (13).

The presentation of the Outstanding Contribution to Music award comes four years after Zimmer was handed the Soundtrack of the Year trophy for Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises at the 2009 ceremony.

Co-chairmen of the Classic Brit Awards committee DICkon Stainer and Barry MCCann say in a statement, "We are absolutely delighted to be honouring the outstanding talent of Hans Zimmer with this award. Hans Zimmer’s recent work including Inception has been a dominant force for classical music specifically in the digital download era."

The Classic Brit Awards will be held at Royal Albert Hall in London on 2 October (13).