WSA Film Music Composition Contest 2024!
This year, the annual WSA Composition Contest - which offers young composers the opportunity to showcase their talent on a worldwide platform - takes on Nicolas Roeg’s The Witches (1990). The winner is presented with the Sabam Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer (worth €2.500) at the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert (17 October 2024).
Young composers are the future of the (film) music industry but rarely get the chance to perform their score for a live audience. Therefore, the World Soundtrack Academy invites young composers to submit an original score for a selected film, TV or game excerpt. For the 2024 Composition Contest the WSA Academy invites young screen composers under the age of 36 to write a score for a scene from The Witches, Nicolas Roeg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl's acclaimed novel. Luke, a young boy who lost both his parents, is taken in by his Norwegian grandmother. Whilst on vacation together he discovers a convention of witches pretending to be ordinary women. The witches, masquerading as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, plan to rid the world of children by turning them into mice. Luke takes it upon himself to prevent this from happening no matter the cost. The chosen excerpt shows the Grand High Witch pushing a baby in a stroller off a cliff and Luke ultimately saving it.
A professional jury, chaired by WSA President of the Board Dirk Brossé, will select three finalists who will be invited to the WSA Film Music Days. Their original scores will be performed by the Brussels Philharmonic and conducted by Dirk Brossé at the World Soundtrack Awards Ceremony & Concert in the Bijloke in Ghent on 17 October 2024, after which the winner of the Sabam Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer will be announced. Previous winners include Alec Sievern (excerpt from video game Abzû), Giacomo Rita (excerpt from Nosferatu) and Dougal Kemp (excerpt from Nanook of the North). Check all previous winners on the WSA website.
Registration
Composers can now register for the WSA Film Music Composition Contest on the WSA website. Upon payment of €75, participants will receive a confirmation email with more information and a link to the excerpt from The Witches. Deadline for submission is 16 May 2024.
Participants should carefully read the Rule Book before submitting. You can download the Rule Book below or check it on the website.
Download the Rulebook
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