Volker Bertelmann, also known by his stage name Hauschka, has been nominated for the World Soundtrack Awards before: in 2018 for TV Composer of the Year Gunpowder and Patrick Melrose, and in 2017 as Film Composer of the Year and Discovery of the Year for his score for Lion, co-composed with Dustin O’Halloran. The World Soundtrack Academy crowned him Film Composer of the Year for his scores for War Sailor, Memory of Water and All Quiet on the Western Front, for which he has already picked up many prizes, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA.

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Nicholas Britell has scored a hat-trick with his theme for Succession: he has won Television Composer of the Year for Season 2 in 2020, for Season 3 in 2022 and this year for Season 4, and for the first season of Andor. We can only wonder if Andor will make him as invincible in this category as Succession in the years to come. Britell has also received World Soundtrack Awards in other categories: he won Best Original Song for "Call Me Cruella" from Disney's Cruella in 2021, Film Composer of the Year in 2019 and Discovery of the Year in 2017.

From the five nominated songs in the Best Original Song category, only one was from a series instead of a film. Yet, the song “Your Personal Trash Man Can” grabbed the win. The song features in the fifth season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and written by Thomas Mizer and Curtis Moore and performed by Phillip Attmore, Jake Corcoran, RJ Higton, Tommy Sutter, and the cast, that has convinced the Academy. “Your Personal Trash Man Can” is the second song from a series nominated and the first song from a series to win in this category.

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Simon Franglen is anything but a newcomer to the music industry. He collaborated on award-winning albums by the likes of Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Toni Braxton, and collaborated with composers such as Howard Shore for Se7en and James Horner for Titanic. With Avatar: The Way of Water, he takes over from Horner, who tragically passed away in 2016, as composer for the Avatar franchise. His score for the second Avatar instalment was an immediate success as he took home the Discovery of the Year Award tonight.

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The Public Choice Award went to Amelia Warner for her score for the period drama Mr. Malcolm's List. The score was well received by the audience and garnered the largest number of votes from film fans. It’s her first win, but Warner has been previously nominated in 2018 as Discovery of the Year for Mary Shelley and in 2021 for the Public Choice Award for Wild Mountain Thyme.

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Film Fest Gent Music Director Dirk Brossé won Best Original Score for a Belgian Production for his music for the breathtakingly shot documentary series and film Our nature (Onze natuur). Maestro Brossé was present to receive the award in person as he was conducting Brussels Philharmonic during the World Soundtrack Award Ceremony & Concert.

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This year's WSA Industry Award was presented to film music producer Robert Townson. Townson has been a lifelong champion of film composers through his over 1400 album releases for Varèse Sarabande, and an ongoing series of international concert productions. Now as president of Robert Townson Productions, he continues to celebrate film music through his lectures, writings, concerts and recordings.

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On Thursday 19 October, the first World Soundtrack Award of 2023 was presented at Film Fest Gent’s PRESS PLAY: Music in Games concert. Australian composer and multi-instrumentalist River Boy (Narayana Johnson) has won the first WSA Game Music Award with his score for Cult of the Lamb. The concert was entirely dedicated to the world of video game scores, a historic first for the festival in its 50th edition.

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