Ludwig Göransson won two competitive awards for his work on Sinners at the 2026 Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards, which were held on Friday (Feb. 6) at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The Swedish composer wonoutstanding original score for a studio film and outstanding original song for a dramatic or documentary visual media production for “I Lied to You” which he co-wrote with Raphael Saadiq.
In addition, Göransson and director Ryan Coogler received the Spirit of Collaboration Award, the SCL’s most distinctive and meaningful 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 all of Coogler’s feature films as a director — Creed (2015), Black Panther (2018), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), and Sinners (2025). Göransson has received four of his five Oscar nominations for work on Coogler films. This year, he is Oscar-nominated for both best original score and best original song for “I Lied to You.”
The Bacon Brothers, consisting of actor-musician Kevin Bacon and his older brother, composer Michael Bacon, co-hosted the seventh annual SCL Awards. The ceremony comes at nearly the midpoint between the announcement of the Oscar nominations on Jan. 22 and the opening of first-round Oscar voting on Feb. 26, which makes it an important stop on the Oscar campaign trail.
EJAE and Mark Sonnenblick won outstanding original song for a comedy or musical for “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters. The win marks the latest accolade for the global smash, which has already received a Grammy, Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award, and is widely seen as the front-runner to win the Oscar.
Train Dreams composer Bryce Dessner won outstanding original score for an independent film. Dessner’s score was not nominated for an Oscar, but his title song (co-written with Nick Cave) was nominated for best original song.
Wicked: For Good composer Stephen Schwartz, who tied Göransson with three SCL Awards nods, was shut out at the ceremony.
In television categories, two-time Emmy-winning composer Theodore Shapiro won outstanding original score for a television production for Severance, and Cristóbal Tapia de Veer won outstanding original title sequence for a television production for The White Lotus, his third SCL Award in this category.
Austin Wintory won outstanding original score for interactive media for Sword of the Sea. Composer Ching-Shan Chang was presented with the David Raksin award for emerging talent for her score for Laws of Man.
SCL Awards nominees and winners are determined solely by member composers and songwriters.
The SCL celebrated the 50th anniversary of Rocky with a musical tribute and performance conducted by Oscar-winning composer Bill Conti who scored five films in the Rocky franchise and co-composed its iconic theme song, “Gonna Fly Now,” a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977.
Melissa Manchester performed for the In Memoriam segment, singing “I’ll Never Say Goodbye,” the Oscar-nominated from the 1979 film The Promise, written by David Shire and the late Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman. Alan Bergman, who died in 2025, was featured during the segment. Manchester sang the song on the film soundtrack and at the Oscar ceremony in 1980.
Here’s the full list of 2026 SCL Award nominees, with winners marked.
Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film
WINNER: 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
WINNER: Bryce Dessner – Train Dreams
David Fleming – Eternity
Fabrizio Mancinelli – Out of the Nest
Jónsi & Alex Somers – Rental Family
Sara Barone & Forest Christenson – To Kill a Wolf
Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production
Diane Warren – “Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless
Alice Smith, Miles Caton & Ludwig Göransson – “Last Time (I Seen the Sun)” from Sinners
WINNER: 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
WINNER: 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
WINNER: Cristobal Tapia De Veer – The White Lotus
Carlos Rafael Rivera & Scott Frank – 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
WINNER: 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
WINNER: 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 Diemer – Wildgate
David Raksin Award for Emerging Talent
Cameron Moody – Washington Black
WINNER: Chin-Shan Chang – Laws of Man
Raashi Kulkarni – A Nice Indian Boy
Greg Nicolett – Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches
Freya Berkhout – Ride or Die
Sarah Trevino – The Map That Leads You
