2024 Screen Music Awards nominees revealed

Emerging and seasoned composers named as 2024 Screen Music Award nominees

Roll call includes Joff Bush, Amanda Brown, Antonio Gambale, Tim Minchin, Alex Olijnyk, Electric Fields, Jazz D’Arcy, Jed Kurzel and many more.

APRA AMCOS and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) are proud to announce nominees for the 2024 Screen Music Awards.

Featuring a mix of 32 first time nominees and seasoned screen composers, the list spans 15 categories including compositions for documentaries, short films, advertising, children’s programming, feature film scores and for the first time, music for games/interactive media and unscripted and reality television.

The nominated music and original songs are featured in some of Australia’s favourite screen moments of the past year, including homegrown animated phenomenon Bluey. Appearing in Best Music for Children’s Programming and Most Performed Composer – Overseas (Joff Bush), Bluey, is currently the most-watched show in the United States so far this year.

The Feature Film Score of the Year nominees include two-time previous winner, Jed Kurzel, for original music composed for Dev Patel’s action thriller Monkey Man. Sean Peter is nominated for Plan Bea, the movie musical about a Sydney high school and their creative challenges during the Covid lockdown. Not only is Sean the songwriter, but also the writer and director. With a background in theatre, rock ’n roll and mathematics, composer Stefan Gregory is nominated for indie film The Rooster, directed by Mark Leonard Winter and featuring Hugo Weaving. Rounding out the category is multiple Screen Music Award winner Michael Lira, who is recognised for Netflix’s hybrid live action and animation film, Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp.

In recognition of screen music composers on the rise, the brand-new Emerging Screen Composer of the Year category features four outstanding nominees - Alex Olijnyk, who most recently co-composed the original score for Fake and is also nominated for The Meaningless Daydreams of Augie and Celeste in the Short Film category; Ayda Akbal, an accomplished composer, songwriter and producer who explores emotion and culture in her work and has recently released Where Do I Belong? Here, about what it means to grow up first-generation Turkish-Australian; James Mountain, who in 2023 received a Screen Music Award for Best Music for a Short Film for his score for Mud Crab; and Luna Pan, an award-winning screen, advertising and game composer who has created soundtracks for feature films and TV programs including The Block, Bondi Rescue and Bluey.

The category formerly known as Best Music for a Television Series now features nominees across two distinct categories. In Best Music for a Television Comedy, the nominees are Jackson Milas and first-time nominee Josie Mann for Bump; Antony Partos for The Artful Dodger; Michael Yezerski for While The Men Are Away and Piers Burbrook de Vere for Wolf Like Me.

In Best Music for a Television Drama, creative father and son collaborators Cezary Skubiszewski and Jan Skubiszewski are nominated for High Country. Matteo Zingales receives a nod for his work on Ladies in Black. Amanda Brown and Antonio Gambale are recognised for Prosper, and the musical partnership of Cornel Wilczek and Thomas Rouch sees them nominated for The Newsreader.

The newly introduced Best Music for Unscripted & Reality Television Series category features composers Adam Gock, Dinesh Wicks, Cassie To, Marlon Grunden, Robert Upward, Anthony Ammar, David Bruggemann, Brontë Horder, David Huxtable, Richard LaBrooy, Adam Sofo, Mitch Stewart, Emma Greenhill, Charlton Hill, Justin Shave and David Barber, who between them have created music for popular programs Australia by Design Architecture, LEGO Masters, MasterChef and The Summit.

The newly minted Best Music for a Video Game or Other Interactive Media category features composers Meena Shamaly and Natalie Jeffreys for Every Hue of You, a game that follows the personal journey of Twyla, a jeweller battling grief who awakens the power to enchant her creations with the energy of emotions. Rory Chenoweth and Samuel Marks are nominated for their music from Nine Realms: Revolt, a deckbuilding adventure where players make alliances, grow powerful, and discover what lies within each battle. David Barber returns with another nomination, this time for Seekers of the Shard: Dragonfire where players are a band of adventurers who face off against a variety of enemies using swords, axes and bows. Finally, composer Michael Allen has created the soundscape for Solium Infernum, a turn-based political strategy game set in hell.

The Best Original Song Composed for the Screen features some of Australia’s finest songwriters. Amanda Brown, Damien Lane and David Leha (Radical Son) have teamed up to write Carry You from RFDS. Tim Minchin is nominated for the upbeat Good Day Sunshine from the Netflix hit Eric. Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross (professionally known as Electric Fields) with writers Kara Talve, Bruce Fingers and Billy Ray Fingers receive a nod for their song Tjukurpa from Faraway Downs. Composers Jack Doepel, Benjamin Freeman and Angus Mills round out the category with Echo from Lighting of the Sails for Vivid 2024.

The winners will be announced at the ceremony at Forum Melbourne/Naarm on Tuesday 29 October. Comedian, actor, writer and improviser, Susie Youssef, will host the Awards with Musical Director Erkki Veltheim leading a live orchestra, that will bring selections of works from the screen to life.

View the full list of nominees