Cezary Skubiszewski to receive Distinguished Services honour
Multi-award-winning composer behind Red Dog, Two Hands and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
A former Music Director of the Awards and 12-time previous Screen Music Awards winner, he is being recognised for his extraordinary body of work spanning over 30 years on the Australian screen
The 2026 Screen Music Awards return to Brisbane's Fortitude Music Hall on Wednesday 28 October
Legendary Polish Australian screen music composer, Cezary Skubiszewski, will be honoured with the Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen award at the 2026 Screen Music Awards on Wednesday 28 October.
A former Music Director of the Awards and 12-time previous Screen Music Awards winner, Skubiszewski will once again take to the stage, this time to be recognised for his extraordinary body of work spanning over 30 years on the Australian screen.
Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1948, Skubiszewski’s musical talents were obvious from an early age, playing the piano and studying classical music under the choir director of the Warsaw Opera.
In the early 1970s he moved to Paris and then London. His travels eventually bought him to Australia where, after a few years training as a veterinarian, he settled in Sydney in the late 1970s, joining jazz-rock group Corroboree and beginning a career in jingle writing.
Skubiszewski expanded into orchestral and music-theatre work throughout the 1980s, including the nationally televised Symphony - Home at Last and the Victorian Arts Centre-commissioned SOUNDeSCAPE. Advertising commissions led to television work, including the acclaimed Channel 7 children’s series, Sky Trackers and Neighbours.
On the big screen, his first feature-film score was Lilian’s Story (1996), which earned him the Asia-Pacific Film Festival awardfor Best Music. He went on to compose scores for some of Australia’s most iconic films including Two Hands (1999), Red Dog (2011) and The Sapphires (2012).
He continued to write music for major advertising campaigns throughout his career, most notably Carlton Draught’s Big Ad in 2005, the VB Stubby Symphony in 2007, as well as compositions for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
In addition to his numerous Screen Music Awards, Skubiszewski is the recipient of four AACTA Awards, four AGSC Awards, received the Centenary Medal in 2003 for service to Australian society and film production, and the Film Critics Circle of Australia’s Life Achievement Award in 2010 for his contribution to Australian cinema.
His son, Jan, has followed in his father's footsteps and is a multi-award-winning composer in his own right. Together, the pair have forged one of Australia's most successful screen composing partnerships, winning four Screen Music Awards as well as an AGSC Award for their work on the acclaimed Australian crime comedy, Two Hands. Their collaborative credits include two Best Music for a Television Series or Serial awards for Serangoon Road (2014) and Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018), and High Country, which received Best Music for a Television Drama in 2024.
On receiving the honour, Skubiszewski says: “Thank you very much for this wonderful honour, it came as a big surprise to me and I am deeply grateful to APRA for recognising my work with this Distinguished Service Award. This achievement belongs just as much to the incredible colleagues, mentors and family members who supported and inspired me along the way. I feel most fortunate indeed."
Previous recipients of the Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen Award include Bruce Beresford, Christopher Gordon, Nerida Tyson-Chew, Nigel Westlake and Rachel Perkins.
Presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), the Screen Music Awards celebrate excellence and innovation in screen composition across 16 categories, recognising outstanding contributions in short film, television series, documentaries, children’s programming, feature films and more.
2026 SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS
5.30pm, Wednesday 28 October
Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
Hosted by Rob Collins with guest presenters Claudia Karvan OAM and Ayesha Madon
Music Director Erkki Veltheim
