Oscar-winners Alexandre Desplat, Finneas O’Connell and Hildur Guðnadóttir and the writers of KPop Demon Hunters smash hit ‘Golden’ are amid the first wave of nominees for the World Soundtrack Awards (WSA) 2026.
The winners will be announced at the 26th WSA ceremony and concert, which takes place on October 10 at Music Centre De Bijloke in Ghent.
Two-time Oscar winner Desplat (The Shape of Water, The Grand Budapest Hotel) is nominated in the film composer of the year category for his soundtracks for titles including Frankenstein and Jurassic World Rebirth, alongside against fellow Academy Award winner Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker), who is up for her work on films such as The Bride! and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.
Also joining the category is Oscar nominee Daniel Pemberton, recognised for a busy year that has included Project Hail Mary, The Drama and The Bad Guys 2, as well as Max Richter for Hamnet and Johnny Greenwood for One Battle After Another.
Finneas O’Connell is nominated in the television composer category for his score for series two of Netflix anthology series Beef. The multi-Grammy and two-time Academy Award winner (for Barbie and No Time to Die, alongside sister Billie Eilish) continues his expansion into screen scores following his work on movies The Fallout and Turning Red.
Also making the shortlist is Jeff Russo for FX series Alien: Earth, Apple TV’s Cape Fear and Prime Video’s Citadel (S2), as well as David Fleming for Apple TV horror-comedy Widow’s Bay, Martin Phipps and Benji Merrison for Prime thriller Steal, and Dave Porter for Vince Gilligan’s Apple TV sci-fi series Pluribus.
In the original song category, KPop Demon Hunters’ Oscar-winning ‘Golden’ is up against Charlie XCX and John Cale’s Wuthering Heights collaboration ‘House’; ‘No Place Like Home’, a new Stephen Schwarz original for Wicked: For Good sung by Cynthia Erivo; Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner’s title song from Train Dreams; and another Hildur Guðnadóttir piece, ‘Stolen Tale’ from Hedda, co-written with Nia DaCosta and sung by Mariam Wallentin.
As announced in April, South African film and TV composer Trevor Jones will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony. His work includes Mississippi Burning (1988). The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Notting Hill (1999).
The second wave of WSA nominations will be announced on September 3.
World Soundtrack Awards nominees 2025 - first wave
Film Composer of the Year
- Alexandre Desplat, Frankenstein, Eagles Of The Republic, Jurassic World Rebirth, L’Homme qui rétrécit (The Shrinking Man)
- Jonny Greenwood, One Battle After Another
- Hildur Guðnadóttir, The Bride!, Hedda, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
- Daniel Pemberton, Project Hail Mary, The Drama, The Bad Guys 2, Masters Of The Universe
- Max Richter, Hamnet
Television Composer of the Year
- David Fleming, Widow’s Bay
- Finneas O’Connell, Beef (S2)
- Martin Phipps, Benji Merrison, Steal
- Dave Porter, Pluribus
- Jeff Russo, Alien: Earth, Cape Fear, Citadel (S2)
Best Original Song
- ‘Golden’ - KPop Demon Hunters, Kim Eun-jae, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, Teddy Park, Huntrix
- ‘House’ - Wuthering Heights, Charli XCX, John Cale, Nathan Klein, Finn Keane, John Cale
- ‘No Place Like Home’ - Wicked: For Good, Stephen Schwartz, Cynthia Erivo
- ‘Stolen Tale’ - Hedda, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Nia DaCosta, Mariam Wallentin
- ‘Train Dreams’ - Train Dreams, Nick Cave, Bryce Dessner, Nick Cave
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