Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards: Ludwig Göransson (‘Sinners’) and Diane Warren (“Dear Me”) Lead Nominations
The Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) has announced the nominations for the 2026 Annual SCL Awards, which celebrate excellence and innovation in music for visual media.
Award-winning actor/musician Kevin Bacon and Emmy-winning composer Michael Bacon (aka The Bacon Brothers) will host the 7th Annual SCL Awards at Skirball Cultural Center on February 6, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. The event will feature a special performance by Grammy Award-winning artist Melissa Manchester.
Sinners composer Ludwig Göransson is nominated for three SCL Awards, including one for Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film, and two for Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production for “I Lied to You” and “Last Time (I Seen the Sun)” from Sinners. SCL 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Stephen Schwartz is nominated for three SCL Awards. He and composer John Powell are nominated for their Wicked: For Good score, and Schwartz has two nominations for Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production for “No Place Like Home” and “The Girl in the Bubble” from the film.
Nominees for Outstanding Original Score For A Studio Film include LUDWIG GÖRANSSON (Sinners), ALEXANDRE DESPLAT (Frankenstein), JONNY GREENWOOD (One Battle After Another), STEPHEN SCHWARTZ & JOHN POWELL(Wicked: For Good), MAX RICHTER(Hamnet), and JERSKIN FENDRIX (Bugonia).
Nominees for Outstanding Original Score For An Independent Film include DARA TAYLOR (Straw), BRYCE DESSNER (Train Dreams), DAVID FLEMING (Eternity), FABRIZIO MANCINELLI (Out of the Nest),JÓNSI & ALEX SOMMERS(Rental Family), and SARA BARONE & ROBERT CHRISTENSON (To Kill a Wolf).
Nominees for Outstanding Original Song For A Dramatic Or Documentary Visual Media Production include: DIANE WARREN – “Dear Me” from Relentless; ALICE SMITH, MILES CATON & LUDWIG GÖRANSSON – “Last Time (I Seen the Sun)” fromSinners; RAPHAEL SAADIQ & LUDWIG GÖRANSSON – “I Lied to You” from Sinners; SARA BAREILLES – “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” from Come See Me in the Good Light; NIKHIL KOPARKAR & RAMMY PARK – “The Hills of Tanchico” from The Wheel of Time; and ED SHEERAN, BLAKE SLATKIN & JOHN MAYER – “Drive” from F1.
Since the SCL Awards began, Diane Warren has been nominated every year. She won the award in this same category in both 2025 for “The Journey”from The Six Triple Eight, and in 2023 for “Applause” from Tell it Like a Woman.
Two-time Oscar, BAFTA, Emmy, Golden Globe and Grammy Award-winning composer Ludwig Göransson and director Ryan Coogler will receive the prestigious Spirit of Collaboration Award, which recognizes a composer/director partnership that has created a significant and enduring body of work. Since their first collaboration on Coogler’s Fruitvale Station (2013), Göransson has scored his successful feature films, including Creed (2015), Black Panther (2018), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), and Sinners (2025). Göransson won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for Black Panther and received an Oscar nod for Best Original Song for “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Composer Harry Gregson-Williams will accept the 2025 Spirit of Collaboration Award for his work with director Ridley Scott. Other past award recipients also include the late composer Robbie Robertson & Martin Scorsese, Thomas Newman & Sam Mendes, Terence Blanchard & Spike Lee, Carter Burwell & the Coen Brothers, andJustin Hurwitz & Damien Chazelle.
Here is the full list of nominations.
Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film
LUDWIG GÖRANSSON – Sinners
ALEXANDRE DESPLAT – Frankenstein
JONNY GREENWOOD – One Battle After Another
STEPHEN SCHWARTZ & JOHN POWELL – Wicked: For Good
MAX RICHTER – Hamnet
JERSKIN FENDRIX – Bugonia
Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film
DARA TAYLOR – Straw
BRYCE DESSNER – Train Dreams
DAVID FLEMING – Eternity
FABRIZIO MANCINELLI – Out of the Nest
JÓNSI & ALEX SOMMERS – Rental Family
SARA BARONE & ROBERT CHRISTENSON – To Kill a Wolf
Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production
DIANE WARREN – “Dear Me” from Relentless
ALICE SMITH, MILES CATON & LUDWIG GÖRANSSON – “Last Time (I Seen the Sun)” from Sinners
RAPHAEL SAADIQ & LUDWIG GÖRANSSON – “I Lied to You” from Sinners
SARA BAREILLES – “Salt Then Sour Then Sweet” from Come See Me in the Good Light
NIKHIL KOPARKAR & RAMMY PARK – “The Hills of Tanchico” from The Wheel of Time
ED SHEERAN, BLAKE SLATKIN & JOHN MAYER – “Drive” from F1
Outstanding Original Song for a Comedy or Musical Visual Media Production
EJAE & MARK SONNENBLICK – “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters
STEPHEN SCHWARTZ – “No Place Like Home”from Wicked: For Good
STEPHEN SCHWARTZ – “The Girl in the Bubble”from Wicked: For Good
JACK BLACK & JARED HESS – “Steve’s Lava Chicken” from A Minecraft Movie
MARK RONSON, ANDREW WYATT & JACK BLACK – “I Feel Alive” from A Minecraft Movie
BLAKE SLATKIN, SHAKIRA & ED SHEERAN – “Zoo” from Zootopia 2
Outstanding Original Title Sequence for a Television Production
CRISTOBAL TAPIA DE VEER – The White Lotus
CARLOS RAFAEL RIVERA – Dept. Q
DAVE PORTER – Pluribus
SEAN CALLERY – The Beast in Me
AMANDA JONES – Murderbot
JEFF BEAL – All Her Fault
Outstanding Original Score for a Television Production
THEODORE SHAPIRO – Severance
ANTONIO SÁNCHEZ – The Studio
BRANDON ROBERTS – Andor
DAVE PORTER – Pluribus
CRISTOBAL TAPIA DE VEER – The White Lotus
DAVID FLEMING & GUSTAVO SANTAOLALLA – The Last of Us
Outstanding Original Score for Interactive Media
AUSTIN WINTORY – Sword of the Sea
GORDY HAAB – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: The Order of the Giants
WILBERT ROGET II, CODY MATTHEW JOHNSON & JON EVERIST – Star Wars Outlaws: A Pirate’s Fortune
MACLAINE DEIMER – Wildgate
David Raksin Award for Emerging Talent
CAMERON MOODY – Washington Black
CHIN-SHAN CHANG – Laws of Man
RAASHI KULKARNI – A Nice Indian Boy
GREG NICOLETT– Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches
FREYA BERKHOUT – Ride or Die
SARA TREVINO – The Map That Leads You
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards: Ludwig Göransson (‘Sinners’) and Diane Warren (“Dear Me”) Lead Nominations 
International Press Academy Satellite Awards Nominations: ‘Sinners,’ One Battle After Another,’ ‘Hamnet’ Lead 
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