The West Australian composers won every category in which they were nominated at the 2026 Screen Music Awards, while Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks extended their record of success and Cezary Skubiszewski received a major career honour.
West Australian composers Josh Hogan and Ned Beckley dominated the 2026 Screen Music Awards, winning four trophies for their work on the ABC animated series Tales from Outer Suburbia at a ceremony presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers. The pair won Best Music for Children’s Programming, Best Opening Title Television Theme, Best Soundtrack Album and Best Original Song Composed for the Screen, sharing the song award with Joni Hogan.
The ceremony at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall on Wednesday 28 October recognised achievements across 16 categories spanning Australian screen composition, from television drama and documentary to feature films, video games, advertising and reality television.
Hogan and Beckley’s four wins established Tales from Outer Suburbia as the night’s standout production. The animated series draws on the imaginative world of Australian author and illustrator Shaun Tan, whose work often finds the extraordinary within familiar suburban settings. The composers’ recognition across four separate categories reflects the breadth of their contribution to the production, encompassing its original score, opening theme, soundtrack album and song.
The winning song, “Nothing Stays the Same”, was composed by Beckley, Joni Hogan and Josh Hogan. Its award adds a songwriting achievement to the recognition for the series’ instrumental and thematic music.
For the Envelope Audio collaborators, the clean sweep represents a substantial result in a field that brings together established screen composers and emerging practitioners working across different production formats.
Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks continued their long-standing success in the Screen Music Awards’ performed-composer categories, collecting Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia for the 12th time.
Their Australian credits include MasterChef, My Kitchen Rules and Travel Guides, programmes whose recurring music reaches audiences through repeated broadcasts and seasons. The award recognises their continuing presence across Australian television rather than a single soundtrack or production.
The pair also won Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas, with international credits including Con Girl, Lego Masters and Married at First Sight.
Their third award of the evening came for Best Music for an Unscripted or Reality Television Series for Million Dollar Secret (Season 2). They shared that award with David Bruggemann, Rory Chenoweth, Lydia Davies, Brontë Horder, Adam Sofo, Mitch Stewart and Cassie To.
The three wins underline the importance of music in unscripted television, where composition helps establish a programme’s identity, maintain momentum and support storytelling across episodes.
Composer Cezary Skubiszewski received the Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen award, recognising a career spanning more than three decades.
His screen credits include Red Dog, Two Hands and The Sapphires, three Australian films with markedly different settings and storytelling approaches. His work also extends beyond film and television, including music associated with the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Film producer Nelson Woss presented the honour. Woss worked with Skubiszewski on Red Dog, giving the presentation a direct connection to one of the composer’s best-known screen projects.
Skubiszewski’s career has included previous Screen Music Awards and AACTA recognition. The Distinguished Services honour acknowledges his broader contribution to Australian screen music, complementing the competitive awards presented for individual works during the ceremony.
Helena Czajka won Best Music for a Documentary for Sentient, securing the category for a second consecutive year. The back-to-back result establishes a notable run for the composer in a category where music must work in close relationship with documentary storytelling.
Antony Partos added another Screen Music Award to a career total of 19, winning Best Music for a Television Drama for The Artful Dodger (Season 2, Episode 3). His continuing recognition reflects a substantial body of work across Australian screen productions.
Christopher Larkin won Best Music for a Video Game or Other Interactive Media for Hollow Knight: Silksong. The award recognises composition in an interactive medium, where music must contribute to atmosphere and emotional development while accommodating the player’s progression through a game.
In feature film, Piers Burbrook de Vere and first-time winner Rose Mackenzie-Peterson shared Feature Film Score of the Year for the romantic comedy Addition. Their win highlighted the collaborative nature of film scoring, where composers shape the musical identity of a complete cinematic work.
Benjamin Lam won Best Music for an Advertisement for Lego – Project Vehicles, published by Massive Publishing. Nicholas Gardiner took Best Music for a Short Film for Trading Cards.
Georgina Darvidis, Matthew Sheers and Peter Corrigan won Best Music for a Television Comedy for The Witchy Girls (Episode 6), adding another collaborative result to a ceremony that recognised music created across a wide range of production budgets and formats.
Finn Clarke was named Emerging Screen Composer of the Year. The Tasmanian composer had won Best Soundtrack Album in 2025, making the latest honour a further milestone in his developing career. The award also includes two return domestic flights courtesy of Virgin Australia to support his next professional steps.
The ceremony was hosted by actor and singer Rob Collins, with Claudia Karvan OAM and Ayesha Madon among the guest presenters. A live orchestra performed selections from the nominated works under the direction of Erkki Veltheim, who was leading the ceremony’s music direction for the final year.
The 2026 results reflect the range of Australia’s screen music industry, from composers working in children’s animation and independent film to those creating music for internationally distributed television formats and interactive entertainment.
Hogan and Beckley’s four awards for Tales from Outer Suburbia provided the night’s clearest sweep, while Gock and Wicks continued their exceptional record in performed music. Skubiszewski’s Distinguished Services honour offered recognition of a different kind, celebrating the contribution of an established composer whose work has helped shape Australian film and television over several decades.
The complete list of winners follows.
2026 Screen Music Awards: Full Winners List
Best Music for an Advertisement
Lego – Project Vehicles
Composed by Benjamin Lam. Published by Massive Publishing.
Best Music for Children’s Programming
Tales from Outer Suburbia (Episode 10)
Composed by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan.
Best Music for a Documentary
Sentient
Composed by Helena Czajka.
Best Music for a Short Film
Trading Cards
Composed by Nicholas Gardiner.
Best Music for a Television Comedy
The Witchy Girls (Episode 6)
Composed by Peter Corrigan, Georgina Darvidis and Matthew Sheers.
Best Music for a Television Drama
The Artful Dodger (Season 2, Episode 3)
Composed by Antony Partos. Published by Sony Music Publishing.
Best Music for an Unscripted or Reality Television Series
Million Dollar Secret (Season 2)
Composed by Adam Gock, Dinesh Wicks, David Bruggemann, Rory Chenoweth, Lydia Davies, Brontë Horder, Adam Sofo, Mitch Stewart and Cassie To. Published by BMG.
Best Music for a Video Game or Other Interactive Media
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Composed by Christopher Larkin.
Best Opening Title Television Theme
Tales from Outer Suburbia
Composed by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan.
Best Original Song Composed for the Screen
“Nothing Stays the Same” from Tales from Outer Suburbia
Composed by Ned Beckley, Joni Hogan and Josh Hogan.
Best Soundtrack Album
Tales from Outer Suburbia
Composed by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan.
Feature Film Score of the Year
Addition
Composed by Piers Burbrook de Vere and Rose Mackenzie-Peterson.
Emerging Screen Composer of the Year
Finn Clarke.
Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen
Cezary Skubiszewski.
Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia
Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks.
Recognised for MasterChef, My Kitchen Rules and Travel Guides.
Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas
Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks.
Recognised for Con Girl, Lego Masters and Married at First Sight.
Further information is available from APRA AMCOS.
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