Winners of the JOHNNY DENNIS MUSIC AWARDS ANNOUNCED
The Australian Guild of Screen Composers today announced the winners of the Johnny Dennis Music Awards, held every two years. The awards aim to provide the winning composers with the financial and creative freedom to receive appropriate recognition for their work. There are four cash awards of $5,000 each.
The winners of the 2025 Johnny Dennis Music Awards are:
AYDA AKBAL
BIDDY CONNOR
JAMES PETER BROWN
JESSE WATT
“We had over thirty high quality submissions for the awards this year and as always the judges had a hard time choosing the four who most reflect the legacy of Johnny Dennis,” said Kingston Anderson Executive Director of the AGSC. “I would like to thank all our judges who spent considerable time assessing all the applications as well as those that applied for the award.”
From the winners
“The legacy of John Dennis inspires me deeply, and this award gives me the rare chance as a young-ish composer to create music driven purely by love, purpose and artistic truth, and to record a piece worthy of his name that I hope will be cherished for generations.” JESSE WATT
“This award means a great deal, as it supports my ideas around using music as a meditative tool for focus and relaxation for young children. Thank you!” JAMES BROWN.
“To put into words what this award means to me; it allows me to continue building my screen music career with the confidence and trust that I am on the right path – supported in this meaningful way.” AYDA AKBAL.
“Receiving this award encourages my commitment to creating repertoire that is both artistically beautiful and technically valuable and provides essential support to develop these studies through performance, consultation with specialists, and refinement—ensuring they genuinely serve the string playing community.” BIDDY CONNOR
Background
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 Perpetual Trustee Company Limited are sole trustee of the Johnny Dennis Light Music Trust. The AGSC have been administering the awards, on behalf of Perpetual as Trustee, for many years.
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 wholoved an audience.
About the winners
AYDA AKBAL
Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, yet growing up travelling to visit family across the world in Turkiye, Ayda Akbal was exposed to the ideas of existing in more than one culture, and identity from a young age. Through her use of a “strong methodology” grounded in research’whilst also prioritising intuitive creativity and improvisation’, she aids in the telling of stories through her music. With a background in composition, music technology, psychology, and artificial intelligence, she has worked professionally on a myriad of projects spanning stage and screen.
In 2024, Ayda was contacted by Marvel to compose the soundtrack for The Official Marvel Podcast, making her the first Australian composer to enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her score was recorded remotely with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra. Akbal composed the score to the Turkish-Australian film KUDUZ, which had its premier at UMAX in Melbourne.
Through her work, she was nominated for both Emerging Screen Composer of The Year at the Australian Screen Music Awards, and Composer Rising Star at the International Music and Sound Awards.
As an additional music composer, arranger, and orchestrator, she has worked on a variety of film and television projects, including The Surfer (Madman Films), Preparation for the Next Life (Amazon, MGM), Moonbird (SBS), My Sister Liv (Songbird Studios), America’s Team (Skydance Sports), The Kings of Tupelo (Netflix), People We Meet on Vacation (Sony) and John Candy: I Like Me (Amazon Studios).
She is immensely proud of the release of her artist album, Where Do I Belong? Here – in which she explores what it means to grow up first generation Turkish-Australian. She is deeply moved by the response she’s had and connections she’s made since the release. She is grateful to have received the Angus Gray Piano Performance Grant and Blackbird Protostars Grant to support the recording and mixing of the work.
In 2024, Ayda was awarded the Global Professional Development Award by the American Australian Association and APRA AMCOS to support an internship at score-production company – Joy Music House – under the mentorship of CEO & Founder Catherine Joy – in Los Angeles. She was also awarded the Emerging Artists Grant from the Ian Potter Cultural Trust to support her internship.
BIDDY CONNOR
Biddy Connor is a 2025 recipient of the APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund and was a 2016 finalist for The Melbourne Music Prize Outstanding Musicians Award. She is the Artistic Director for The Letter String Quartet, an innovative ensemble renowned for pushing the sonic possibilities of the string quartet into new realms.
Biddy has worked on stages and festivals including the Sydney Opera House, Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Dark Mofo, and Womadelaide. Her extensive collaborations include Richard Frankland, Van Diemens Band, The Breeders (USA), Mick Harvey, Jen Cloher, Tim Finn, and John Cale, among many others.
In 2024, Biddy performed at the Aranya Theatre Festival in China with ‘Love’s Universe is Inside You’ and composed music for the Flying Fruit Fly Circus’s ‘Big Sky’, which played a season at the Sydney Opera House. Currently, in 2025, she has created music for Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerine’s VR project, The World Came Flooding In. Biddy is also a member of Golden Sands, Light Burst and is the Special Projects Producer for Speak Percussion.
Light Burst is her duo with multi-instrumentalist Lizzy Welsh, born from pandemic lockdowns and combining electronics with rarely heard acoustic instruments from different eras. Their debut album was released on Eternal Music Projects in late 2024, following funding from Creative Australia and Creative Victoria.
Biddy holds a Bachelor of Music Performance (Vocalist: Improvisation Stream, Victorian College of the Arts, 1995) and a Masters of Screen Composition (AFTRS, 2005). She has composed for diverse projects including film, television, theatre, large-scale community events and games. Notable screen music awards include APRA-AGSC nominations for ‘Switch on the Night’ (2005), ‘Melbhattan’ (2013), and international recognition at the 2006 Park City Film Music Festival with Gold and Silver Medals for ‘Danya’ and ‘The First Thing I Remember’.
As an educator, Biddy has worked extensively with The Song Room since 2013, delivering arts programs in primary schools and preschool playgroups focusing on disengaged students from diverse backgrounds. She has also taught at Melbourne Polytechnic, Crashendo, and various schools, and was Chamber Made’s 2021 Orange House by the Sea Resident Artist.
JAMES PETER BROWN
James Peter Brown is a highly accomplished Filmmaker, artist, composer and sound designer known for his emotive sonic landscapes and sensitive collaborations across the full spectrum of live and recorded sound including theatre, film, documentaries, animation, video games, and virtual reality.
Educated at Sydney College of the Arts and Sydney University, Brown holds a visual arts degree and a Master’s in Acoustic Physics. His practice-based research explores the intersections of sound, technology, and human experience across diverse artistic platforms.
His collaborative approach is dedicated to original projects, anchored in the relational, and evolves in concert with the conceptual development of the work. James drives a strong connection between the material and sound, ensuring a seamless integration of audio and visual elements.
Throughout James’ extensive professional experience, he has nurtured a wide range of creative endeavours and ongoing collaborations, both in Australia and overseas, including several high-profile works and significant artistic partnerships. Each of these demonstrate his increasing demand, adeptness and responsiveness to the creative work.
JESSE WATT
Jess Watt thrives at the vibrant intersection of neoclassical and electronica, constantly exploring new colour and textures to tell powerful stories and elevate film narratives. His work asks a central question: “How can music capture the very essence of a character, a landscape, or a story?”
With a passion for humanitarian and environmental storytelling, Jess has collaborated with renowned filmmakers, including Academy Award-winner James Read and Netflix’s Abraham Joffe, to create emotionally resonant scores for films with profound social impact. His music has accompanied documentaries that shed light on climate change, wildlife conservation, and cultural preservation – including the recent “The White Mountain”, which explores the effects of climate change on extreme sports communities.
Over his career, Jess has composed scores for numerous feature films and documentaries that have premiered on global platforms, earning accolades such as “Best Music at the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival” and the “SFS Film Festival” (2017 & 2018).
Blending classical orchestration with modern electronic elements, Jesse’s music has been performed in venue as iconic as the UN General Assembly Hall for the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations. His compositions are deeply rooted in empathy and connection, seeking to amplify stories that inspire action and awareness.
Whether working with orchestras, integrating field recordings, or crafting intimate piano-led themes, Jesse continues to explore new frontiers in musical storytelling – always driven by a commitment to projects that celebrate humanity, culture, and our natural world.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT KINGSTON ANDERSON ON 0419635358 OR kingston@agsc.org.au
