AIDC AWARDS

The AIDC Awards were established in 2021 to recognise outstanding completed works of new Australian documentary and factual content across six categories.


1. Best Feature Documentary (with a $5,000 cash prize presented by Film Finances)

2. Best Documentary/Factual Series

3. Best Documentary/Factual Single 

4. Best Short-Form Documentary

5. Best Audio Documentary (with a $3,000 cash prize presented by AFTRS)

6. Best Interactive/Immersive Documentary (with a $3,000 cash prize presented by Deakin Motion Lab)


 

View the full list of AIDC 2024 AWARDS NOMINEES AND WINNERS

 


PREVIOUS AIDC AWARDS

2023 AIDC Award Nominees and Winners
2022 AIDC Award Nominees and Winners
2021 AIDC Award Nominees and Winners


SOUTHERN LIGHT AWARD

AIDC also presents the annual Southern Light Award, a $5,000 cash prize presented to an Australian industry professional for their outstanding contribution to nonfiction screen, digital and/or audio media. To learn more about the prize, visit the Southern Light Award page.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Submissions are required to meet the category definitions outlined in the 2024 AIDC Awards Submission Guide and to adhere to the below requirements:

  • Pay the submission fee for the category in which you are entering (see the How to Submit section for more information).

  • Be able to demonstrate a public release – which is considered a premiere – between 1 February 2023 and 1 February 2024. AIDC will make exceptions for entries that have had an international premiere within these dates but which have not yet premiered in Australia. 

  • Show that at least one key creative (producer, director, writer) on the production is an AIDC member. An AIDC member is anyone who attended AIDC 2023 or is registered to attend AIDC 2023. To become a member visit AIDC Membership.

  • Demonstrate one Australian citizen or permanent resident as a key creative. 

For full eligibility criteria, as well as a definition of each AIDC Award, please refer to the

HOW TO SUBMIT

UPDATE: SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2024 AIDC AWARDS ARE NOW CLOSED


To submit an entry for Best Feature Documentary, Best Documentary/Factual Series, or Best Documentary/Factual Single, please submit a Long-Form application.

FORM CLOSED


For categories including Best Short-Form Documentary*, Best Audio Documentary, or Best Interactive/Immersive Documentary, please submit a Short Form & Other application.

FORM CLOSED

Note: late deadline fees apply after 8 November 2023.

*Delegates who attended AIDC in 2023 as a Leading Lights recipient are eligible to receive a 50% discount on the Best Short-Form Documentary submission fee. For a discount link, please contact info@aidc.com.au


A sample of the submission questions can be found in the Awards Submission Guide.

For any enquiries about the Awards submission process, please email awards@aidc.com.au

Read more

DEADLINES & FEES

APPLICATION DEADLINES

  • Regular Fee Deadline: 11.59pm (AEDT) Wednesday 8 November
  • Late Fee Deadline: 11.59pm (AEDT) Wednesday 15 November

ENTRY FEES

  • Short Form – $110 (Late Submission – $175)
  • Long Form – $185 (Late Submission – $280)

Submission fees are inclusive of GST. A 2% credit card fee is payable at checkout

JUDGING PROCESS

Each category of the 2024 AIDC Awards is assessed by an independent jury comprising experts in the field.

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

  • Erin Casper – Editor (Fire of Love, Risk, Becoming) (USA)
  • Sasha Close – President, Natalie Miller Fellowship (NMF) (AUS)
  • Dudi Rokach – Founder and Festival Director, Antenna Documentary Film Festival (AUS)

BEST DOCUMENTARY / FACTUAL SERIES

  • Madeleine Heatherton – Co-founder/Director/Producer, Media Stockade (AUS)
  • Michael McMahon – Executive Producer, Big and Little Films (AUS)
  • Deb Spinocchia – Head of Unscripted, BBC Studios ANZ (AUS)

BEST DOCUMENTARY / FACTUAL SINGLE

  • Dean Gibson – Company Director, Bacon Factory Films (AUS)
  • Blayke Hoffman – Producer, Stranger Than Fiction Films (AUS)
  • Yukari Misaizu – Senior Producer, International Programs Department, NHK Enterprises (JPN)

BEST SHORT-FORM DOCUMENTARY

  • Mia Falstein-Rush – Program Manager, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) (AUS)
  • John Harvey – Creative Director, Brown Cabs (AUS)
  • Christine Kecher – Senior Commissioning Editor, New York Times Op-Docs (USA)

BEST AUDIO DOCUMENTARY

  • Patrick (Pat) Abboud – Journalist, Director, Writer, Presenter. Co-creator of The Greatest Menace: Inside the Gay Prison Experiment podcast.
  • Rachael Brown – Investigative Journalist, Creator/Presenter of Trace podcastABC (AUS)
  • Marcus Costello – Senior Producer, Audiocraft (AUS)

BEST INTERACTIVE / IMMERSIVE DOCUMENTARY

  • Seb Chan – CEO / Director, ACMI (AUS)
  • Tom Millen – Director, Crossover Labs (UK)
  • Julia Scott-Stevenson – Researcher, producer, curator – immersive & interactive nonfiction media, University of Technology Sydney (AUS)

For more information about each jury member, visit the AIDC Jury profiles.


Jurors for all categories will deliberate across the following criteria: 

  • Originality of the subject
  • Creative treatment of the subject
  • Quality of the storytelling (including emotional engagement)
  • Integration of craft & technical elements (editing, sound, design, etc.)

Entries to some long-from categories (including Best Feature Documentary and Best Documentary/Factual Series) will be shortlisted by an AIDC appointed pre-selection committee. 

The shortlisted projects will then be provided and viewed by the category’s judging panel. 

AIDC’s 2024 Award nominees will be announced in mid-February 2024.

PRIZES

In addition to receiving an AIDC Awards trophy, winners across selected categories will also receive prizes presented by AIDC partners.  


$5,000 Best Feature Documentary Prize, presented by Film Finances.

The $5,000 Best Feature Documentary Prize will be presented by Film Finances, the market leader in the provision to film financiers of completion guarantees/bonds, for the film, television, and transmedia industries in Australia. Film Finances provides assurance to investors and assistance to program makers to ensure that their projects are completed and delivered on time and on budget.


$3,000 Best Audio Documentary Prize, presented by AFTRS.

The $3,000 Best Audio Documentary Prize will be presented by AFTRS, Australia’s national screen and broadcast school, empowering Australian talent to shape and share their stories with the world by delivering future-focused education, research and training. 


$3,000 Best Interactive/Immersive Documentary Prize, presented by Deakin Motion Lab.

The $3,000 Best Interactive/Immersive Documentary Prize will be presented by Deakin Motion Lab, an interdisciplinary research and knowledge community focused on digital screen experiences. Positioned at the border of the physical and the virtual world, their research explores the opportunities, limitations, and consequences of new creative applications of technology.


If you are interested in partnering with AIDC for the 2024 Awards, please contact info@aidc.com.au.

KEY DATES

Regular Submission Deadline: 11.59pm (AEDT) Wednesday 8 November

Late Submission Deadline: 11:59pm (AEDT) Wednesday 15 November

Nominees Notified: mid-February 2024 

Awards Presentation: Wednesday 6 March 2024

PARTNERS