The ABC children's animation series Tales from Outer Suburbia was one of the biggest winners at the 2026 Screen Music Awards.
West Australian composers Josh Hogan and Ned Beckley took home four awards: Best Music for Children's Programming, Best Opening Title Television Theme, Best Soundtrack Album, and Best Original Song Composed for the Screen, the latter shared with Joni Hogan.
MasterChef, My Kitchen Rules and Travel Guides helped longtime collaborators Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks continue their winning streak in the Most Performed Screen Composer — Australia category.
The pair also won Most Performed Screen Composer — Overseas for their work on Con Girl, Lego Masters and Married at First Sight.
Million Dollar Secret won Best Music for Unscripted or Reality Television Series, with Gock and Wicks among the team of composers recognised alongside Adam Sofo, Brontë Horder, Cassie To, David Bruggemann, Lydia Davies, Mitch Stewart and Rory Chenoweth.
Red Dog and Two Hands composer recognised
Red Dog composer Cezary Skubiszewski received the award for Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen in recognition of his incredible body of work spanning more than 30 years.
Australian documentary Sentient won Best Music for a Documentary, recognising Helena Czajka's score.
Christopher Larkin took out Best Music for a Video Game or Other Interactive Media for his work on the highly anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Finn Clarke was named Emerging Screen Composer of the Year, following his 2025 win for Best Soundtrack Album.
The charming rom-com Addition won the highly contested Feature Film Score of the Year award for composers Piers Burbrook de Vere and first-time winner Rose Mackenzie-Peterson.
First-time winners were also recognised across several categories, with Lego — Project Vehicles winning Best Music for an Advertisement for Benjamin Lam, Trading Cards earning Best Music for a Short Film for Nicholas Gardiner, and The Witchy Girls (Episode 6) taking out Best Music for a Television Comedy for Georgina Darvidis, Matthew Sheers and Peter Corrigan.
Screen composers make statement about AI
During the ceremony, composers, musicians and industry leaders wore special badges in solidarity, opposing the use of Australian creative work to train AI without creators’ consent, licensing or fair compensation.
The government is currently considering whether to allow technology companies to use copyrighted material to train AI models.
The initiative was spearheaded by composer Antony Partos and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers.
One participating composer was Nigel Westlake, best known for his score for the Australian classic Babe.
Westlake discovered that 180 of his compositions had been included in AI training datasets without his knowledge.
Among them was a requiem he wrote after the death of his son in a road rage incident in 2008.
“Our creative industries cannot become collateral damage in the race to attract AI investment,” Partos said in a statement.
Veltheim leads orchestra for final year as music director
The ceremony took place in Brisbane's Fortitude Music Hall on October 28, 2026, and was hosted by Rob Collins, 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 scores.
The Screen Music Awards, presented by APRA AMCOS in collaboration with the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), celebrate excellence and innovation in screen composition.
2026 Screen Music Awards winners and finalists
Feature Film Score of the Year
- Winner: Addition — composed by Piers Burbrook de Vere and Rose Mackenzie-Peterson
- Christy — composed by Antony Partos. Published by Cas Music
- Monument — composed by Kenneth Lampl. Published by Alba Australia Music Publishing
- War Machine — Composed by Dmitri Golovko. Published by BMG Publishing
Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia
- Winners: Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks for MasterChef, My Kitchen Rules, Travel Guides
- Damian De Boos-Smith for Better Homes & Gardens, Return to Paradise, The Block
- Jay Stewart for Better Homes & Gardens, It's Academic, The Block
- Mitch Stewart for MasterChef, My Kitchen Rules, Travel Guides
Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas
- Winners: Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks for Con Girl, Lego Masters, Married at First Sight
- Anthony Ammar for Love on the Spectrum, Married at First Sight, MasterChef
- Joff Bush for Bluey, The Strange Chores
- Mitch Stewart for Con Girl, Lego Masters, Married at First Sight
Best Opening Title Television Theme
- Winner: Tales from Outer Suburbia — composed by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan
- Flower and Flour — composed by Hylton Mowday. Published by Kobalt Music Publishing on behalf of (obo) Cheeky Little Media
- Reported Missing — composed by Adrian Leung. Published by BMG Publishing obo Manners McDade
- Revealed: Death Cap Murders — composed by Simon Walbrook
Best Original Song Composed for the Screen
- Winner: "Nothing Stays the Same" from Tales from Outer Suburbia — composed by Ned Beckley / Joni Hogan / Josh Hogan
- "Nug Luck" from Caper Crew — composed by Steve Toulmin
- "The Spirit Shall Return" from Mystery Road: Origin — composed by William Barton. Published by Wise Music G Schirmer Australia
- "We Got Away With It" from He Had It Coming — composed by Caitlin Yeo. Published by Kobalt Music Publishing obo LilliPilli IP
Best Soundtrack Album
- Winner: Tales from Outer Suburbia — composed by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan
- Christy — composed by Antony Partos. Published by Cas Music
- Deadloch (Season 2) — composed by Amanda Brown. Published by Universal/MCA Music Publishing
- Together — composed by Cornel Wilczek and Alex Olijnyk
Best Music for Children's Programming
- Winner: Tales from Outer Suburbia (Episode 10) — composed by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan
- Caper Crew — composed by Steve Toulmin
- Kiki Can Fly (Zoo, Special Edition) — composed by David Skinner. Published by Origin Music Publishing
- The Pout-Pout Fish — composed by Ack Kinmonth
Best Music for a Documentary
- Winner: Sentient — composed by Helena Czajka
- Edge of Life — composed by Antony Partos. Published by Sonar Music
- Reported Missing (Season 5 Episode 1) — composed by Adrian Leung. Published by BMG Publishing obo Manners McDade
- Whistle — composed by Haydn Walker
Best Music for a Short Film
- Winner: Trading Cards — composed by Nicholas Gardiner
- Filthy — composed by Chiara Costanza. Published by Kobalt Music Publishing
- Spiders on My Lashline — composed by Freya
- The Worm — composed by Callum O'Reilly
Best Music for a Television Comedy
- Winner: The Witchy Girls (Episode 6) — composed by Peter Corrigan / Georgina Darvidis / Matthew Sheers
- Dog Park (Episode 1) — composed by Bryony Marks. Published by Kobalt Music Publishing obo LilliPilli IP
- He Had It Coming (Episode 7) — composed by Caitlin Yeo. Published by Kobalt Music Publishing obo LilliPilli IP
- Sunny Nights (Episode 1) — composed by Matteo Zingales. Published by Sonar Music
Best Music for a Television Drama
- Winner: The Artful Dodger (Season 2, Episode 3) — composed by Antony Partos. Published by Sony Music Publishing
- Playing Gracie Darling (Episode 5) — composed by Jan Skubiszewski
- Reckless (Episode 4) — composed by Casse To and Emma Greenhill
- The Family Next Door (Episode 1) — composed by Bryony Marks. Published by Kobalt Music Publishing obo LilliPilli IP
Best Music for Unscripted or Reality Television Series
- Winner: Million Dollar Secret — composed by Adam Gock* / Dinesh Wicks* / David Bruggemann* / Rory Chenoweth* / Lydia Davies / Brontë Horder* / Adam Sofo* / Mitch Stewart* / Cassie To*. Published by BMG*
- Beyond Bali with Lara Lee — composed by Amara Primero and Melany Thompson. Published by Cooking Vinyl Publishing / Primerchord Music
- Muster Dogs (Season 4) — composed by Mark Walmsley. Published by Universal Music Publishing
- Tucci in Italy (Season 2) — composed by Richard Pike. Published by Sony Music Publishing
Best Music for a Video Game or Other Interactive Media
- Winner: Hollow Knight: Silksong — composed by Christopher Larkin
- Bluey's Quest for the Gold Pen — composed by Cedar Jones
- Malys — composed by Belinda Coomes
- Mixtape — composed by Josh Abrahams and Jonathan Tron
Best Music for an Advertisement
- Winner: Lego: Project Vehicles — composed by Benjamin Lam. Published by Massive Publishing
- Sarah & Sebastian: Ondine — composed by Mara Schwerdtfeger
- Telstra: Tame Your Tech — composed by Scott Langley. Published by Smith and Western Studios
- Voice of Resistance — composed by Fred Leone* / Mariah Alone / Dion Brownfield^ / Caleb Tasker# / Skye Thomas / Corey Webster / Dallas Woods^. Published by Sony Music Publishing* / Kobalt Music Publishing^ / BMG Publishing#
Emerging Screen Composer of the Year
- Winner: Finn Clarke
- Andreas Dominguez
- Emma Greenhill
- Genevieve Patrick
