The composers have received four nominations each ahead of the ceremony’s return to Brisbane, while four rising talents will compete for Emerging Screen Composer of the Year.

Antony Partos, Josh Hogan and Ned Beckley lead the field for the 2026 Screen Music Awards, receiving four nominations apiece across film and television categories.

Presented by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers, the awards will return to Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall on Wednesday, October 28.

Partos is nominated for Best Music for a Documentary for Edge of Life and Best Music for a Television Drama for The Artful Dodger. His work on the biographical boxing film Christy is also recognised in the Best Soundtrack Album and Feature Film Score of the Year categories.

Hogan and Beckley received four nominations for their work on the ABC animated series Tales from Outer Suburbia. The pair are contenders for Best Music for Children’s Programming, Best Opening Title Television Theme and Best Soundtrack Album.

They are also nominated alongside Joni Hogan for Best Original Song Composed for the Screen for “Nothing Stays the Same.”

Longtime collaborators Adam Gock, Dinesh Wicks and Mitch Stewart have received three nominations each. Their work across programs including Lego Masters, MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules is recognised in the Most Performed Screen Composer categories, while all three contributed to the score for Million Dollar Secret, nominated for Best Music for an Unscripted or Reality Television Series.

Adrian Leung, Bryony Marks, Caitlin Yeo, Cassie To, Emma Greenhill and Steve Toulmin are also among this year’s multiple nominees.

Four composers will compete for Emerging Screen Composer of the Year. First-time nominees Andreas Dominguez and Genevieve Patrick are joined by Emma Greenhill and Finn Clarke, who won Best Soundtrack Album in 2025.

The Best Music for a Video Game or Other Interactive Media category includes two of the year’s most prominent Australian-connected game releases. Christopher Larkin is nominated for Hollow Knight: Silksong, while Cedar Jones is recognised for Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen. Belinda Coomes’ Malys and the Mixtape score by Josh Abrahams and Jonathan Tron complete the category.

In the television drama field, Partos’ work on The Artful Dodger will compete against Jan Skubiszewski’s score for Playing Gracie Darling, Cassie To and Emma Greenhill’s work on Reckless, and Bryony Marks’ music for The Family Next Door.

The Feature Film Score of the Year nominees are Partos for Christy, Piers Burbrook de Vere and Rose Mackenzie-Peterson for Addition, Kenneth Lampl for Monument and Dmitri Golovko for War Machine.

The Best Soundtrack Album category features Christy, Amanda Brown’s Deadloch Season 2, Tales from Outer Suburbiaand Cornel Wilczek and Alex Olijnyk’s score for Together.

Other nominated productions include He Had It Coming, Sunny Nights, Muster Dogs, Tucci in Italy, Revealed: Death Cap Murders, Mystery Road: Origin, The Pout-Pout Fish and Reported Missing.

The awards celebrate screen composition across film, television, documentary, children’s programming, advertising, short film, games and other interactive media. Recipients are selected through industry judging panels or statistical analysis, depending on the category.

The 2026 ceremony forms part of APRA’s year-long centenary celebrations. This year’s recipient of the Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen Award will be announced on October 13.

Actor Rob Collins will host the Screen Music Awards, with Claudia Karvan and Ayesha Madon appearing as guest presenters. Erkki Veltheim will serve as music director.

The 2026 Screen Music Awards will be held at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall from 5.30pm on Wednesday, October 28.