The ABC’s outstanding Australian content has been celebrated here and overseas with dozens of nominations for this year’s Rose d’Or and AACTA Awards, capping off a stellar run in 2021 for the national broadcaster.
Despite the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions, the ABC this week scored more than 60 nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, the nation’s leading screen prizes. The ABC also leads the way on the world stage, with four programs in the running for prestigious Rose d’Or Awards, which recognise global screen excellence and achievement.
The nominations come on top of the ABC’s recent success at home and abroad, including an International Emmy Award, multiple New York Festivals Awards and 15 Walkley Award nominations, along with plaudits for its coverage of sport, science and stories from across regional Australia.
Finalists for the 60th annual Rose d’Or Awards, which were announced on Wednesday, feature ABC documentary Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra (nominated for Best Arts Award), the insightful Australia Talks (Best Studio Entertainment) and empowering Love on the Spectrum and You Can’t Ask That (both nominated for the Best Reality and Factual Entertainment Award).
This week also saw the ABC receive an unrivalled 65 nominations for the AACTA Awards, led by dramas The Newsreader and Wakefield, with 10 and 8 nods, respectively. The Newsreader has the most nominations for any television program, including Best Drama Series, Best Director and Best Screenplay.
David Anderson, ABC Managing Director, said: “The ABC is the creative voice of the nation, bringing to life more award-winning Australian stories than any other broadcaster.
“We are proud to see our diverse and distinctive programs celebrated time and again on the world stage, highlighting the great talent we have in this country. Congratulations to everyone at the ABC and our production partners for such well-deserved recognition and for your dedication to delivering outstanding Australian content.”
This year’s AACTA Award nominees feature many of the ABC’s most popular and engaging dramas, comedies and children’s programs, such as Bluey, Total Control, Rosehaven, Frayed, Fires, Hardball and Kangaroo Beach.
The ABC’s trusted news and factual content was also recognised with nominations for Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds, Love on the Spectrum, Australia Talks, Ms Represented with Annabel Crabb, Brazen Hussies, You Can’t Ask That and The School That Tried to End Racism.
The nominations add to the ABC’s recent run of success on the world stage. In the past three months alone, plaudits for the ABC’s unrivalled commitment to informing, engaging and entertaining audiences have included:
- Gold medals at the New York Festivals Awards for ABC TV’s Love on the Spectrum and Australia’s Ocean Odyssey – A Journey Down The East Australian Current and for audio programs Stuff the British Stole and Earshot.
- Hit comedy Fisk was named Best Series in the Comedies Competition at Europe’s largest TV festival, Series Mania.
- ABC ME series First Day won an International Emmy Kids Award and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids and Family Programming.
- The ABC’s coverage of science and environmental issues was recognised with an Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Science Journalism for podcast RN Presents…Patient Zero and the international Jackson Wild Media Award for Best Conservation Film (Long Form) for Wild Australia: After the Fires.
- The ABC has 15 finalists in the 2022 Walkley Awards spanning a dozen categories: public service journalism, investigative journalism, coverage of community or regional affairs, sports journalism, innovation, documentary, camerawork, radio/audio news and current affairs, radio/audio feature, TV/video current affairs (short and long) and coverage of a major event or issue.
- ABC programs feature prominently among the nominees for this year’s AWGIE (Australian Writers’ Guild) Awards, including Wakefield, Why Are You Like This?, Aftertaste, Retrograde, The Wonder Gang, The Strange Chores, Gruen and podcast CrossBread.
- ABC Children’s programs and production partners are among those in the running for the Screen Producers Australia Awards, along with feature documentaries Freeman and Brock – Over the Top.
- The ABC won multiple Western Australian Rural Media Association awards, recognising reporters including Mark Bennett, Chris Lewis and Jo Prendergast and James Liveris.
- The ABC’s Patrick Martin was named South Australia’s Journalist of the Year for his inquiry into the MP expenses scandal.
- The ABC’s Annah Fromberg was named joint 2021 Tasmanian Journalist of the Year and also received the award for Public Service Journalism for her investigation into a controversial program for troubled kids.
- The ABC won 13 awards at the 2021 MEAA Queensland Clarion Awards, including for Rural Journalism, Investigative Journalism, Health Reporting, Indigenous Issues Reporting, Innovation, Radio Current Affairs, TV Current Affairs and Television Camerawork.
- ABC NEWS reporter and photojournalist Mridula Amin was named Young Australian Journalist of the Yearat the Walkleys Award Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism.
- ABC sports journalists Russell Jackson and Kate O’Halloran were honoured at the 2021 Australia Football Media Association Awards.
- ABC journalists won multiple Rural Press Club of Victoria Awards, including Jedda Costa (Young Journalist of the Year), Sian Johnson (Best Radio Feature) and Peter Somerville (Best TV News Story).
