Winners of the 2026 Screen Music Awards announced
Josh Hogan and Ned Beckley’s score for Tales from Outer Suburbia led the night with four awards
Finn Clarke awarded Emerging Screen Composer of the Year
Hosting the awards were renowned actor and singer Rob Collins, alongside guest presenters Claudia Karvan OAM and Ayesha Madon. Erkki Veltheim led a live orchestra through selections from nominated works, bringing the screen to life on stage
The winners of the 2026 Screen Music Awards were announced at a glittering ceremony at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall this evening (Wednesday 28 October). Presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), the awards celebrate excellence and innovation in screen composition across 16 categories.
West Australian composers Josh Hogan and Ned Beckley were the big winners on the night, taking out all four categories in which they were nominated for their work on the ABC children’s animation series Tales from Outer Suburbia. The pair won Best Music for Children’s Programming, Best Opening Title Television Theme and Best Soundtrack Album, as well as Best Original Song Composed for the Screen alongside composer Joni Hogan.
Longtime collaborators Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks continued their Screen Music Award-winning streak picking up Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia for the 12th time for their work on MasterChef, My Kitchen Rules and Travel Guides, as well as the Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas for Con Girl, Lego Masters and Married at First Sight. They also added a third award with Best Music for Unscripted or Reality Television Series for Million Dollar Secret alongside fellow composers Adam Sofo, Brontë Horder, Cassie To, David Bruggemann, Lydia Davies, Mitch Stewart and Rory Chenoweth.
Helena Czajka made it back-to-back wins in the Best Music for a Documentary category, winning for hard-hitting Australian documentary Sentient. Fellow multi-award-winning composer, Christopher Larkin, took out Best Music for a Video Game or Other Interactive Media for the highly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong, while in the Best Music for a Television Drama category, Antony Partos took out the prize for The Artful Dodger (Season 2, Episode 3), bringing his career tally to 19 Screen Music Awards.
Finn Clarke was named Emerging Screen Composer of the Year following his2025 win for Best Soundtrack Album. In addition to the award, Clarke receives two return domestic flights courtesy of Virgin Australia Business Flyer, supporting him to take the next step in his creative career.
Picking up the highly contested Feature Film Score of the Year award were Piers Burbrook de Vere and first-time winner Rose Mackenzie-Peterson for their score to the charming rom com Addition.
Other first-time winners were Benjamin Lam whose Lego – Project Vehicles won Best Music for an Advertisement; Nicholas Gardiner’s composition for Trading Cards in Best Music for a Short Film; and Georgina Darvidis, Matthew Sheers and Peter Corrigan whose work on The Witchy Girls (Episode 6) took out Best Music for a Television Comedy.
Legendary screen composer Cezary Skubiszewski was honoured with the Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen award in recognition of his incredible body of work spanning more than 30 years. He was presented the award by film producer Nelson Woss, who he collaborated with on the soundtrack for iconic Australian movie Red Dog.
Hosting the awards were renowned actor and singer Rob Collins, alongside guest presenters Claudia Karvan OAM and Ayesha Madon. In his final year as Music Director, composer and performer Erkki Veltheim led a live orchestra through selections from nominated works, bringing the screen to life on stage.
View the full list of winners here.
