2nd AACTA Awards

Background

On 5 May 2012, the Academy announced a new category for Best Reality Television Series, due to the growth of reality television productions in Australia. Reality television productions could previously be submitted in the Best Light Entertainment Series category. The twenty-three films eligible to compete for film awards were revealed on 29 August 2012. Of those competing, Burning Man was made eligible, after being ineligible to compete at the previous awards due to a change in release date. The details of the first nominees were also announced that day, in the non-feature film categories for: Best Feature Length Documentary, Best Short Fiction Film and Best Short Animation, as determined by specially formed juries. For television, juries were established to select the nominees and winners.

On 3 December 2012, the full list of nominees for feature-film, television and non-feature films were released during a press conference in Sydney. Of the nominees, The Sapphires (2012) received the most feature-film nominations with twelve, including Best Film, Best Direction for Wayne Blair, Best Adapted Screenplay for Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs, Best Lead Actor for Chris O'Dowd, Best Lead Actress for Deborah Mailman and Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Mauboy. In television, Puberty Blues received the most nominations with six. These include Best Drama Series, Best Actress - Drama for Ashleigh Cummings, Best Guest or Supporting Actor - Drama for Daniel Wyllie, and Best Guest or Supporting Actress - Drama for Susan Prior. Round two of voting, to determine the feature-film award winners, commenced on the day of the nominations announcement, and concluded on 13 December 2012.

Special awards

A call for recommendations, for the Raymond Longford Award, was made on 13 September 2012 with the submission period ending on 28 September. It was announced on 22 November Al Clark will receive the award, for his work as a film producer, at the AACTA Awards Luncheon in 2013. The Byron Kennedy Award was presented posthumously to Sarah Watt, an Australian film director. Watt was chosen for: "her brave, innovative filmmaking. Painter, photographer, animator, she brought consummate skill and elegance to the live action form. Without pretension, her work broke all the rules, yet her singular view connected to a wide audience by its profound emotional honesty." The accolade was presented at the AACTA Awards Ceremony to her son Clem.

Ceremony

The AACTA Awards Luncheon and Ceremony were held at The Star Event Centre in Sydney, New South Wales on 28 and 30 January, respectively. The AACTA Awards Luncheon, which handed out awards for technical achievements across film and television, as well as all non-feature categories, was hosted by Adam Elliot. The AACTA Awards Ceremony, presenting honours in all other categories, was originally to be presided over by Hugh Sheridan, but due to conflicting schedules he was replaced by Russell Crowe. The latter presentation which had been previously shown on Nine Network since 2005, aired on Network Ten on the day of the ceremony, but as an edited version of the event.

Winners and nominees

Feature film

Winners will be listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Television

Documentary

Short film

Additional awards

Individual awards

Productions with multiple nominations

Feature film

The following feature films received multiple nominations.

• Twelve: The Sapphires
• Ten: Burning Man
• Eight: Lore, Mental and Wish You Were Here
• Four: Not Suitable for Children
• Two: 33 Postcards and Killer Elite

The following feature films received multiple awards.

• Eleven: The Sapphires
• Two: Wish You Were Here

Television

The following television shows received multiple nominations.

• Six: Puberty Blues
• Five: Howzat! Kerry Packer's War and Redfern Now
• Three: A Moody Christmas
• Two: The Amazing Race Australia, Beaconsfield, Devil's Dust, Lowdown, Rake and Underground: The Julian Assange Story

The following television shows received multiple awards.

• Two: Howzat! Kerry Packer's War and Redfern Now

References

References

1. Dale, David. (28 January 2013). "THE RATINGS RACE: Week 5, when My Kitchen Rules creamed MasterChef". National Times.
2. Goodacre, Kate. (4 December 2012). "'The Sapphires' dominates second annual AACTA nominations". Hearst Magazines UK ([[Nat Mags.
3. "Awarding screen excellence in Australia". Australian Film Institute.
4. Vicky Roach. (9 May 2012). "AACTA Awards bow to reality TV". [[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney).
5. Michael Bodey. (29 August 2012). "Strong selection for second AACTA Awards". [[The Australian]].
6. "AFI/AACTA - The Awards - Voting". Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA).
7. "2nd AACTA Awards Nomination Announced". Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA).
8. (3 December 2012). "The Sapphires top of the AACTAs with 12 nominations". [[The Herald and Weekly Times]] (News Corporation).
9. "2nd AACTA Awards Nominees - Nominations by production". Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA).
10. . (13 September 2012). ["AACTA E-News - 13 September 2012"](http://afi.informz.net/afi/archives/archive_617300.html). *Informz, Inc.*.
11. . (22 November 2012). ["AACTA gong for Al"](http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/aacta-gong-for-al-20121121-29qnc.html). *[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]*.
12. (30 January 2013). "Sarah Watt received prestigious Byron Kennedy Award at the AACTAs in a moving posthumous honour". News.com.au.
13. . (16 January 2013). ["Adam Elliot announced as host of 2nd AACTA Awards luncheon"](http://if.com.au/2013/01/16/article/Adam-Elliot-announced-as-host-of-2nd-AACTA-Awards-luncheon/QRXRWDDOAP.html). *Inside Film magazine*.
14. (7 January 2013). "Sheridan to host AACTAs on Ten". [[Ninemsn]] ([[Nine Entertainment Co.]] and [[Microsoft]]).
15. Vickery, Colin. (23 January 2013). "Russell Crowe steps in to host AACTA Awards". [[The Australian]].
16. Quinn, Karl. (8 January 2013). "Ten to screen AACTA Awards, Hugh Sheridan to host". The Sydney Morning Herald.