Screen Music Awards Winners 2022

The Screen Music Awards winners for 2022 have been announced by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), The composers are a mix of established and first-time winners whose music has enhanced the impact of productions across small and large screens.

Debutante nominee Salliana Seven Campbell has won the Feature Film Score of the Year for her original music for The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, written, directed and starred in by Leah Purcell. The multi-instrumentalist and arranger used fiddles, banjos, mandolins, piano and electric guitars to create a raw soundtrack to match the film’s powerful energy.

Caitlin Yeo scored two wins for her work on New Gold Mountain, the revisionist Western set in the gold mining days of Ballarat in 1857, largely from the perspective of the Chinese gold miners. Featuring a blend of strings, traditional Chinese instruments, a mixture of percussion, and even a gold pan as a percussive instrument, Caitlin received the awards for Best Television Theme and Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie.

Winning their first ever Screen Music Awards are didgeridoo player and composer William Barton and Australian Chamber Orchestra Artistic Director Richard Tognetti, who along with Piers Burbrook de Vere have taken out Best Soundtrack Album for the motion picture River and Best Original Song Composed for the Screen with Spirit Voice of the Enchanted Waters from River.

Antony Partos and Matteo Zingales again impressed the panel of judges with their collaboration, winning Best Music for a Television Series or Serial for their collaboration on Total Control, the acclaimed political drama series starring Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths.

Composer Hylton Mowday won Best Music for a Documentary for the Emmy Award-winning Australian documentary Puff: Wonders of the Reef. Netflix’s first original Australian documentary which won the Emmy for Outstanding Nature Documentary, follows a baby puffer fish through the Great Barrier Reef as he learns to survive and thrive through his first year of life.

Nerida Tyson-Chew won the 2022 award for Best Music for Children’s Programming for The Deep, an animated children’s series which has been screened in over 200 countries. The award for Best Music for a Short Film went to screen composer Wil Hughes who won his first award for Still Life. Also scoring his first Screen Music Award is Lance Gurisik who composed the Best Music for an Advertisement for Destination NSW: Feel New.

Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks, whose collaborations on MasterChef, Anh’s Brush with Fame and Beauty and the Geek Australia won them Most Performed Screen Composer in Australia for the ninth time. Record breaking screen composer Neil Sutherland was the Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas, now for an incredible 15th consecutive year for his work on Border Security, MythBusters and Bondi Vet.

Nigel Westlake received the Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen Award for his body of work across film and television. His long-time collaborator, director, producer, and screen writer Robert Connolly was on hand to present the honour.

The 2022 Screen Music Awards were co-hosted Akina Edmonds, Anne Edmonds and Aaron Pedersen and featured musical performances of the Feature Film Score of the Year nominated pieces led by Musical Director Jessica Wells. Two-time winner William Barton performed How We Feel from the River soundtrack. To close the ceremony Fred Leone and gospel vocal ensemble Gospo (accompanied by William Barton on didgeridoo and the Screen Awards Orchestra) paid a special musical tribute to the late Uncle Jack Charles and Uncle Archie Roach with a rendition of Song to Sing, composed by Archie Roach.

2022 SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS WINNERS

Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen Award
Nigel Westlake

Feature Film Score of the Year
Title The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson
Composed by Salliana Seven Campbell

Best Television Theme
Title New Gold Mountain
Composed by Caitlin Yeo
Published by Kobalt Music Publishing obo Lillipilli IP

Best Music for a Television Series or Serial
Title Total Control
Composed by Antony Partos & Matteo Zingales
Published by Sonar Music

Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie
Title New Gold Mountain
Composed by Caitlin Yeo
Published by Kobalt Music Publishing obo Lillipilli IP

Best Soundtrack Album
Title River
Composed by Richard Tognetti with William Barton* & Piers Burbrook de Vere
Published by G Schirmer Australia*

Best Original Song Composed for the Screen
Title Spirit Voice of the Enchanted Waters from River
Composed by William Barton*, Piers Burbrook de Vere & Richard Tognetti
Published by G Schirmer Australia*

Best Music for a Documentary
Title Puff: Wonders of the Reef
Composed by Hylton Mowday
Published by We Love Jam Studios

Best Music for a Short Film
Title Still Life
Composed by Wil Hughes

Best Music for Children’s Programming
Title The Deep
Composed by Nerida Tyson-Chew
Published by A Stark Production

Best Music for an Advertisement
Title Destination NSW: Feel New
Composed by Lance Gurisik
Published by Massive Publishing

Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia
Composers: Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks
For: MasterChef, Anh’s Brush with Fame, Beauty and the Geek Australia

Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas
Composer: Neil Sutherland
For: Border Security, MythBusters, Bondi Vet

Image: 2022 Screen Music Awards dual winners William Barton, Piers Burbrook de Vere and Caitlin Yeo
Photograph by Rick Clifford @rcstills