Music and storytelling go together, shaping each other’s narratives, emotions, and audience perceptions. As a result, the best movies often have the best soundtracks as well, such as those on the 2026 SCL Awards nominations list.
The Society of Composers & Lyricists released its SCL Awards nominations for its seventh annual awards ceremony. These nominations are for all of their categories, including:
They also released this year’s recipients of the achievement awards. Please continue reading to learn who these recipients are and when the SCL will present their awards.
Film music hits different. You can’t separate movies, shows, and video games from their soundtracks. The strategic use of music and silence plays a crucial role in how we perceive and enjoy their stories, emotions, and cinematic experiences. The best soundtracks can even change our culture and how we see ourselves.
The Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL) exists to celebrate the interplay between music and storytelling. Serving as the Hollywood union for soundtrack musicians, the SCL does so by promoting the best film music makers of the year through an annual awards ceremony.
2026 marks the seventh year for the event, which will be held on February 6, 2026. To promote it, the SCL recently released its nominations for its eight award categories, as determined by the union’s member composers and songwriters. Many of these nominees also found themselves on the Oscars music shortlists.
Out of the four score categories, Studio Film is probably the most anticipated.
The Award for Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film celebrates music explicitly made for major studio movies.
For this year, the award has six nominations:
If you’re looking for something indie, you should check out the soundtracks that are up for the independent score award.
The Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film Award celebrates musical excellence in independent cinematography, including documentaries. Entrants are eligible if they had a budget under $20 million and had no major studio backer.
This year’s indie nominees are:
While not as popular as movie soundtracks, television music has its own charm. SO, it’s not surprising that it has its own awards category.
The Television Score category is for music that was made specifically for television soundtracks, regardless of whether it was for a made-for-TV movie, series, or documentary. It’s also awarded per episode. So, a series can receive multiple nominations.
With that said, here are the SCL Awards nominations for Outstanding Original Score for a Television Production:
While there are multiple awards for songs, only opening songs have their own SCL Awards category, Title Sequence. As you suspect, it’s open to songs specifically made to be opening songs for television series or movies.
The following title sequences are nominated for this year:
The other two SCL song categories are based on genre. For instance, the Dramatic or Documentary Song category is for any music that was used in a dramatic or documentary film, series, or video game, including ending songs.
The current dramatic or documentary song nominations are:
Comedy or Musical Song is the other SCL song category, which includes any comedy or musical film, including animation. The following six songs were nominated for it this year:
Video Game Score is the last music category in the SCL Awards. It’s, of course, a celebration of music specifically made for a video game or any other type of interactive media. For this year, there are only four nominations for it.
Emerging talent is the final voting SCL category. It’s for great musicians who didn’t receive a nomination for anything else, and I mean for anything else. That includes the other SCL categories, but it also means the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, the BAFTAs, and the Golden Globes shunned them.
Here are the current nominees for the award:
In addition to the voting awards above, the SCL also gives out two types of lifetime achievement awards.
The SCL gives the Spirit of Collaboration award to composers and filmmakers who have worked together for most of their careers. This year, the award will go to Ludwig Göransson and director Ryan Coogler.
Other achievement award recipients for the year include:
The SCL will hold the 7th Annual SLC Awards on February 6, 2026, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Kevin Bacon and Michael Bacon will host the event, which will feature performances by Melissa Manchester. However, they haven’t revealed when or where they will air it.
I love that we have a soundtrack-only awards ceremony. If you love soundtracks as well, post the soundtracks you want to win SCL Awards in the comments.
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