Daniel Pemberton, Hannah Peel and Jeff Russo among the winners at the 26th World Soundtrack Awards

As is tradition, the WSA Film Music Days ended on a festive note with the WSA Ceremony & Concert. For three days, international film and film music professionals gathered in Music Centre De Bijloke in the historic heart of Ghent for talks, workshops and masterclasses about the art of composing film music, and a meet & greet with several of the WSA Nominees. The last day concluded with the prestigious award ceremony and a live concert with selected music by WSA Guest of Honour Hildur Guðnadóttir and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Trevor Jones, performed by Brussels Philharmonic and conducted by maestro Dirk Brossé. 

Film Composer of the Year

The category of Film Composer of the Year was presented to Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-winning British composer Daniel Pemberton. Pemberton is known for his wildly inventive instrumentation and unconventional soundscapes, and has scored for directors such as Ridley Scott, Danny Boyle, and Guy Ritchie. His expansive, organic sci-fi score for Project Hail Mary, slow-burning acoustics for The Drama, infectious funk for The Bad Guys 2, and maximalist glam-rock explosion for Masters of the Universe, further established him as one of the most exciting composers working today. It's his second time he takes home the Film Composer of the Year Award (2021), after winning the Discovery of the Year Award in 2014. 

Television Composer of the Year

Third time's the charm: after being nominated for the award twice before, Emmy Award-winning and Grammy-nominated composer Jeff Russo received the award for Television Composer of the Year for his work across Cape Fear and Alien: Earth, as well as the second season of Citadel. Russo is celebrated for his wide stylistic range in his film, television and video game scores. His music can be heard on shows such as Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, Cursed, and Altered Carbon, and Fargo, for which Russo received an Emmy in 2017 and four additional nominations.

Best Original Song

As an ode to the power of a single song to anchor a film or tv series in the collective memory, the award for Best Original Song honours outstanding songs written for the big or small screen. Following their impressive victory at the Academy Awards, K-pop singer-songwriter Kim Eun-jae and composer Mark Sonnenblick took home the title of Best Original Song for "Golden", written for the iconic Netflix hit KPop Demon Hunters.

Discovery of the Year Award

Northern Irish composer Hannah Peel received this edition's Discovery of the Year Award, with which the World Soundtrack Awards spotlight emerging voices in film music. She is celebrated for her innovative mix of analogue synthesizers, classical orchestration, and vocal arrangements. Her score for Midwinter Break brings a delicate, hauntingly intimate resonance to the screen, accentuating the quiet, unraveling dynamic of long-term intimacy. 

Public Choice Award

Every year, film music fans across the globe get the chance to celebrate the score that resonated most deeply with them through the Public Choice Award. This year, the honour went to composer Kevin Smithers for his rich, atmospheric soundtrack for Mexican stop-motion feature Soy Frankelda. His score for the acclaimed animation film mixed lush cinematic orchestration with eerie, gothic undertones and emotional melodies to ground the film's fantastical realm of monsters.

Game Music Award

Already in its fourth edition, the Game Music Award gives fans a voice in celebrating the most compelling game scores of the year. Award-winning French film and video game composer and multi-instrumentalist Nicolas Garcia received the Game Music Award for Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss. In his score, he translated Lovecraftian cosmic horror into a deeply psychological, atmospheric score. Blending an 80-piece live orchestra with ancient, rare instrumentation alongside electric cello and synth, his composition creates an organic yet oppressive soundscape of inescapable dread.

Belgian Film Composer of the Year (powered by Sabam)

Brussels-based composer Margaret Hermant was named Belgian Film Composer of the Year. The award reflects the growing importance of the Belgian film and film music industry. Hermant is a composer, violinist, harpist, and founding member of Echo Collective, whose work is increasingly centered on film scoring and narrative music. Her work explores the space between acoustic and electronic sound, combining instruments to create richly textured scores. Her recent scores reveal this versatility, from the intimate acoustic world of A la cara to the interplay of transformed flamenco guitar and modular synths in Mallorca Confidencial, making her one of the most interesting Belgian composers today. 

Award for the Best Original Composition by a Young Composer (powered by Vienna Synchron Stage)

Each year, the World Soundtrack Awards stimulate young talent worldwide with a unique film music competition. For this edition, young composers were invited to write a compelling new score for an excerpt from Ratched. The jury selected the winning score by Xabier Doural García, a Spanish composer, trombonist, conductor and music educator who combines a strong classical background with experience in orchestral, jazz and contemporary music. After completing a Master’s Degree in Technologies for Film Scoring and Video Game Music, he composed the score for the awarded short film Rúa Nosa (Andrea Varela, 2025), and received the Second Prize at the Indie Film Music Contest for his original rescore of the animation short film Walter (Lorenzo Fresta, 2019). During the WSA Ceremony & Concert, García had the chance to hear his work brought to life by a professional orchestra. 

Lifetime Achievement Award

Renowned film composer Trevor Jones was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at tonight's 26th World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert. Jones, whose career spans more than five decades, is known for his sweeping orchestral scores for over 100 films and television projects, including The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Notting Hill (1999) and Mississippi Burning (1988). Over the years, he has collaborated with leading orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra and worked with artists like David Bowie, Sting and Sinéad O’Connor. During the ceremony, Brussels Philharmonic performed a selection of Jones' music in his presence, conducted by maestro Dirk Brossé.