The 26th World Soundtrack Awards have unveiled their nominations, pitting five of the most sought-after names in film scoring against one another for Film Composer of the Year. Jonny Greenwood, Alexandre Desplat, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Daniel Pemberton and Max Richter will compete for the honour on 10 October 2026, when the awards are presented as part of a three-day event running 8–10 October in Ghent, Belgium Variety.

The nominees' eligible work spans a striking range of films. Greenwood is nominated for his score to Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another. Desplat earned his slot with three scores: Jurassic World Rebirth, Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, and L'homme qui rétrécit. Pemberton's nomination covers four titles — Project Hail Mary, The Drama, The Bad Guys 2 and Masters of the Universe. Richter was nominated for Chloé Zhao's Hamnet Variety.

Guðnadóttir carries a dual distinction: she is both a Film Composer of the Year nominee, recognised for The Bride!, Hedda and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and the guest of honour at this year's ceremony Variety.

On the television side, five composers are up for Television Composer of the Year. David Fleming, nominated for Widow's Bay following a prior nomination for The Last of Us, faces Finneas O'Connell, who scored the second season of Beef. Martin Phipps is nominated for the heist thriller Steal, co-written with Benji Merrison. Dave Porter earned his nomination for the post-apocalyptic series Pluribus. Jeff Russo's nod covers Cape Fear, Alien: Earth and the second season of Citadel Variety.

The Best Original Song category brings pop and film-music worlds together. Kim Eun-jae and Mark Sonnenblick are nominated for "Golden," from the Netflix series KPop Demon Hunters. Also nominated is "House" from Wuthering Heights, credited to Nathan Klein, Finn Keane, John Cale and Charli XCX Variety.

Beyond the juried categories, the public still has a brief window to weigh in. Voting for the WSA Public Choice and Game Music Awards 2026 remains open until 15 August 2026 at 23:59 CEST, with the five finalist scores for each category set to be announced in mid-September (World Soundtrack Awards). Volker Bertelmann, also known as Hauschka, is among the six nominees for the Public Choice Award (World Soundtrack Awards Facebook). Bertelmann is a past WSA Film Composer of the Year winner, recognised for War Sailor, All Quiet on the Western Front and Memory of Water (World Soundtrack Awards).

The awards also look ahead. Submissions for the Discovery of the Year award, honouring emerging film-scoring talent, are open, and finalists for the 2026 Film Music Composition Contest have already been announced (World Soundtrack Awards).

For film-music professionals, the World Soundtrack Awards organisation runs a membership community offering access to networking events and voting privileges for the awards (World Soundtrack Awards).