2025 AWARDS
$20,000 Johnny Dennis Music Awards
Information on the 2025 Awards will be announced soon.
The Awards carry four (4) cash prizes of $5,000 each. Entries are invited from composers working at all levels of the industry – from entry level to established composers, in the category of ‘Light Music’ (see definition below).
The activities that the Award will fund are:
- Creation of new work
- Presentation of work, including audience development; and
- Research and development of a new work.
Requirements
- Applicants must submit a CV and proposal (up to two pages) via the Nomination Form
- The Awards are open to Australian composers who nominate a light music project (see definition for ‘Light Music’ below)
If you have any questions, please contact the Australian Guild of Screen Composers via email (agsc@agsc.org.au).
2025 Judge Profiles
Fiona Hill is an international award winning composer writing for the screen, stage and concert hall. Creating emotive, textural and organic music she has been noted for her ‘seamless working of live electronics” and “timbral exploration of abstract sonic properties”. Fiona is currently lecturer in Composition for Creative Industries at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Jan Skubiszewski is a composer and record producer from Melbourne. His screen work has been recognised with multiple APRA Screen Music Awards and he has produced a number of ARIA Award-winning and chart-topping records.
About the Johnny Dennis Music Awards
About Johnny Dennis
English-born and christened Dennis John Mole, Johnny Dennis migrated to Australia in the late 1940s and got his first musical break on the late Jim “Woody” Wood’s talent search program on Melbourne 3AW playing and singing ‘Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy’. Soon after he became band pianist for three years at the Ritz Hotel, St. Kilda, before moving to the Gold Coast where, this time doubling on electric organ, for over three years he was the keyboard man at the Palm Lounge of the Grand Hotel, Coolangatta, with Art Lunden as compere. A confirmed traveller, who enjoyed living out of a suitcase, Johnny spent time working in Melbourne and Sydney, as well as the USA, England and Scotland.
Finally settling on the Gold Coast in 1989, he died suddenly from a heart attack on his way to a rehearsal — a trouper to the end, or, putting it with far more justice —the essential entertainer who loved an audience.
About the Awards
The Johnny Dennis Music Awards were established in perpetuity through the will of Dennis John Mole, who bequeathed his entire estate to a suitable trust for the purposes of achieving appropriate recognition for composers of light music. As executor of his will, the late Trustee Mr. Malcolm Harrison founded the trust in 1989 and appointed Perpetual Limited as co-trustee. Perpetual Trustee Company Limited are now sole trustee of the awards. The Awards are administered by the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC), on behalf of Perpetual Trustee Company Limited and held every two years. They are open to Australian composers who nominate a project of light music and submit an application that is assessed by a panel of judges for the Awards.
Definition of ‘Light Music’
The AGSC has determined the definition of Light Music to be predominantly in line with the definition of Art Music as defined by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre. That is, contemporary classical, contemporary jazz and improvised music, with the following additional considerations as defined by the estate:
“The music can include music for dance and theatre performances, TV, radio and film scoring. The compositions are to be of melodious nature. It shall not include music of a primarily percussive nature where melody is dominated by rhythm nor shall it include music of an operatic nature”.
The activities that the Award will fund are:
- Creation of new work
- Presentation of work, including audience development; and
- Research and development of a new work.
Read about the 2021 and 2023 Johnny Dennis Music Award winners below.
2023 AWARDS
2023 Winners clockwise from top left: Thomas Balshaw, Alisa Mitchell, Jessica Wells and Sid Acharya
Four talented composers have been chosen as the 2023 winners for the biennial Johnny Dennis Music Award. They join a talented roll call of Australian composer recipients of the legacy left by the late Dennis John Mole, known as Johnny Dennis, over the past three decades the awards have been held.
Cash awards of $5,000 each will be bestowed on Thomas Balshaw, Alisa Mitchell, Jessica Wells and Sid Acharya.These composers work across diverse areas of music composition and performance.
Biographies of the winners are listed below.
Thomas Balshaw is currently in his third year at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music studying a Bachelor in Muisc with a major in composition and music theory. Completed Grade 6 piano and Grade 5 theory of music (currently preparing for Amuse) and is a Piano teacher (16 students). He has also worked as a Music Therapist working with multiple students with autism and learning disabilities, using music to
activate speech, help with fine motor control, and memory retention. He was the Award winning composer of Winton Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival – student category in 2023 and composed the music for Griffiths Humans of The Outback documentary. He was recently invited to present a short film orchestral composition at the Filmharmonic Concert as part of The Brisbane Festival (2023).
Ailsa Mitchell is a masterful singer and composer who creates music from a place of curiosity. Drawing influence from Celtic and contemporary folk sounds, the diverse music scene around her and the natural world, her playful approach results in a sound that is tender, imaginative and heartfelt. With vocal stylings that earn her comparison to Elizabeth Fraser and birdsong, the music she makes pairs well with cold ocean swims, scenic road trips and the crackle of a fire. Produced by Josh Barber (Goyte, Greta Ray) her debut EP, Orange and Blue was released to a warm reception in April of 2023 and she has had the joy of playing at a handful of festivals such as National folk festival, Queenscliff Music Festival and Yackandanah Folk festival and is thrilled to continue sharing her music and stories.
Jessica Wells was born in Florida, USA in 1974 and migrated to Australia at the age of 11. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1996 and graduated with first class honours. This was followed by a Master’s Degree in Composition under Dr. Bozidar Kos completed in 1998. After teaching composition at the Conservatorium for four years, she spent time living in Antwerp, Belgium and then returned to Sydney in 2003. She then completed a Masters in Screen Composition at the AFTRS (Australian Film, Television and Radio School) in 2005, and was awarded the Film Critic’s Circle Award for “Best Display of Technical Excellence” for her work on eight short films. Her orchestral music and arrangements have been performed by many of the major Australian orchestras (SSO, MSO, TSO, WASO and QSO). She was commissioned to write two pieces for the Victorian Opera’s “Seven Deadly Sins” project featuring seven singers and a full orchestra, which was acclaimed as a highlight of the year in Melbourne’s art scene. “Moon Fire” for Carillon and Electronic track has been nominated for an Art Music Award in 2017 and will be performed in Barcelona as part of the Carillon World Congress in July. Jessica was previously nominated for an Art Music Award for her orchestral work “Ainulindale” in 2001.
Sid Acharya is an Australian composer who is known for his internationally acclaimed studio albums and music for film. His style is most recognizable by use of electronic moving elements with deep and melancholic orchestral textures, mostly within the genre of contemporary classical music. His music has been used for a variety of purposes with NASA, Sony, Arsenal F.C., Houston Space Centre, Lisbon Aquarium, and more. Additionally, Sid composes music for film and advertising, with recent film “Beat” releasing on STAN, Amazon Prime and Apple TV, and “The Promise”, which screened across 12 cinemas around Australia and is expected to release early 2024. For the former, Sid was awarded the AFIN International Film Festival Award for Best Original Score at the 2022 Brisbane ceremony. Sid has also achieved major milestones through the release of his solo albums, amassing over 10 million streams on Spotify, and at least 15 million streams across YouTube. As of 2023, Sid continues to release his internationally acclaimed albums, and composes music for award-winning films.
The four join a long list of past winners including award-winning screen composers Allyson Newman, Brett Aplin, Pru Montin, recent ARIA nominee Nat Bartsch and noted jazz artist Phillip Johnston.
2021 AWARDS
2021 Winners clockwise from top left: Chiara Cimilio (Mami Baby), Robbie Melville, Kate Lucas (Coda Chroma) and David Megarrity (Tyrone and Lesley)
Four talented composers have been chosen as the 2021 winners for the biennial Johnny Dennis Music Award. They join a talented roll call of Australian composer recipients of the legacy left by the late Dennis John Mole, known as Johnny Dennis, over the past three decades the awards have been held.
Cash awards of $5,000 each will be bestowed on Kate Lucas, Robbie Melville, Chiara Cimilio and David Megarrity. These composers work across diverse areas of music composition and performance and have used the time over the past 2 years to develop their composing work while performances, tours and creative collaborations have been put on hold.
AGSC President, Antony Partos said of the winners: “I am thrilled to learn about the four composers selected for this years’ Johnny Dennis Music Awards. I wish the winners every success for their projects and look forward to hear the final results and how their work is shared with the wider community.
Kate Lucas, a Victorian-based composer and songwriter, plans to use her award prize money to promote a new album of music she is releasing and pitching to publishers and record labels, under the name Coda Chrome. Speaking of the award, she noted: “Receiving this award in recognition of my songwriting means so much to me! I feel so encouraged, and excited about being able to share my music more broadly thanks to the funding support this award provides.”
Composer and performer David Megarrity from Queensland will also put his prize money towards recording and releasing a new album of ukulele and double bass music, String, with his performance duo Tyrone and Lesley. He noted the award “recognises the kind of music and songs that don’t sit neatly in drop-down lists of genre and style. Light music for dark times. That’s the kind of music we need”.
Guitarist Robbie Melville from Victoria plans to use the funds to record, release, promote and tour a new album of jazz-inspired music, written for solo guitar, the result of composing at home during the many lockdowns of 2020-2021. He said “As a musician, I am constantly striving to create music that is meaningful to me in the hope that listeners may share a similar aesthetic or experience. Being chosen as one of the recipients of the Johnny Dennis Music Awards creates an opportunity to continue to compose, record and perform music to the best of my ability.”
While emerging composer, songwriter and musician Chiara Cimilio from Sydney, will also use her award prize for the promotion and release of new work under her alter ego Mami Baby. When told of the win, she said: “...this award has allowed me such greater means to continue crafting my art to the best of my ability. I’m honoured to be given this opportunity and I’m so excited to share what’s to come.”
The four join a long list of past winners including award-winning screen composers Allyson Newman, Brett Aplin, Pru Montin, recent ARIA nominee Nat Bartsch and noted jazz artist Phillip Johnston.