Past Winners
Best Australian (Live-Action) Short Film
2026: Half Past Midnight (Directed by Daniel Bibby / Produced by Luisa Bibby & Daniel Bibby / Written by Red Holden & Daniel Bibby)
2025: Dusty (Directed by Jeremy Lindsay Taylor / Produced by Travis Jeffery, Elizabeth Sarah Middleton & Valentin Lang / Written by Travis Jeffery)
2024: Cactus (Directed & Written by Milena Bennett / Produced by Harry Greenwood & Harriet Dixon-Smith)
2024: Dad (Directed, Produced & Written by Riley Eli Jones / Produced by Jade Whelan)
2023: The Drivers (Directed & Produced by Fraser Cameron / Produced by James Bateman)
Best Australian (Animation) Short Film
2026: If/When (Directed by Courtney Westbrook / Produced by Courtney Westbrook, Chris Shapones, Anna Dvorak & Jasmine Hair / Written by Richie Black)
2025: My Monthly Struggle (Directed by Crystal Tai)
2024: Darwin Story (Directed & Written by Natasha Tonkin / Produced by Yeshen Venema & Eero Heinonen)
2023: The Better Angels (Directed & Written by Michael Cusack / Produced by Richard Chataway)
Best International Short Film
2026: Reliefs (Directed by Juan Manuel González / Produced by Janeth Aguirre Elizondo & Juan Manuel González / Written by Juan Manuel González)
2025: Exam (Directed by Jan Naszewski / Written by Jan Naszewski & Agnieszka Matan)
2024 (Live-Action): Thursday Special (Directed, Produced & Written by Varun Tandon / Produced by Krati Tandon & Karan Luthra)
2024 (Animation): Monster (Directed & Written by Eric Giessmann & Piers Goffart / Produced by Eric Giessmann)
2023 (Live-Action): Café Marylin (Directed by András Reszeli-Soós / Produced & Written by András Attila Farkas)
2023 (Animation): Reincarnation Mall (Directed by Eric Giessmann & Piers Goffart / Written by Eric Giessmann / Produced by Eric Giessmann, Piers Goffart & Nicole Jankowski)
Best Documentary Short Film
This award was introduced in 2025
2026: I’ve Never Seen A Straight Banana (Directed by Marco Noé / Produced by Marco Noé & Chad Murray)
2025: Mia (Directed by Marco Noé / Produced by Marco Noé, Chico Kretzer, Fred Winter, & Inae Maree)
Best South Australian Short Film
This award was introduced in 2025
2026: If/When (Directed by Courtney Westbrook / Produced by Courtney Westbrook, Chris Shapones, Anna Dvorak & Jasmine Hair / Written by Richie Black)
2025: M-8 (Directed by Dante Niedzwiedz/ Produced by Dante Niedzwiedz & Alice Reardon / Written by Angus Becke-Smith)
Best Micro Short Film
2026: Ya Hanouni (Directed & Written by Lyna Tadount & Sofian Chouaib)
2025: NGADJURI Spirit and Songs of Country (Directed & Produced by Quenten Agius & Kim Mavromatis / Written by Quenten Agius)
2024: Little Hiccups (Directed & Written by Fitriani Revanda / Produced by Kate Cawley)
2023: Impulse (Directed by Nasim Nasr)
Best Unley Short Film
2026: If/When (Directed by Courtney Westbrook / Produced by Courtney Westbrook, Chris Shapones, Anna Dvorak & Jasmine Hair / Written by Richie Black)
2025: The Crease Of This Couch (Directed, Produced & Written by Jada Zilm)
2024: A Million Lives (Directed, Produced & Written by Dante Niedzwiedz)
2023: Djaambi (Directed & Written by Joel Brown / Produced by Jodie Kirkbride)
Best Student Short Film
2026: Enmeshed (Directed & Written by Corban Bruce / Produced by Tyler Maple & Aleia Johnston)
2025: Cats (Directed by Danilo Stanimirović / Produced by Danilo Stanimirović & Ikonija Jeftić / Written by Irena Parezanović)
2024: Does It Come With a Warranty? (Directed by Tom Lawrence-Doyle / Produced by Jarrah Murphy & Nicholas Bourlostos / Written by Jarrah Murphy)
2023: Evacuation Afghanistan: The Story of Erfan (Directed & Written by Angus Rawson / Produced by Lila Kolomitsev)
Best South Australian Student Short Film
This award was introduced in 2025
2026: Fight Like A Girl (Directed & Produced by Kiaya Hessler)
2025: Edward Has A Tree Inside Him (Directed & Written by Kristoffer Lucia / Produced by Kristoffer Lucia & Genevieve Brandenburg)
Best Interstate Screenplay
This award was introduced in 2024, and updated to ‘Interstate’ in 2025
2026: Root Cause (Written by Isabella Theophanous-Maddison)
2025: Lonnie and the Liarbird (Written by Brydie-Rose Peters)
2024: Roots (Written by Sebastian Benn & Zachary Benn)
Best South Australian Screenplay
This award was introduced in 2025
2026: Headlights (Written by Tully Templeman)
2025: Beasties (Written by Kavitha Anandasivam)
Best Director
This award was introduced in 2025
2026: Daniel Bibby (Half Past Midnight)
2025: Jeremy Lindsay Taylor (Dusty)
Best Performance
This award was introduced in 2025
2026: Kayden Price (Enmeshed)
2025: Travis Jeffery (Dusty)
Best Cinematography
This award was introduced in 2026
2026: Marco Noé (I’ve Never Seen A Straight Banana)
Best Sound
This award was introduced in 2026
2026: Callum Davidson (I’ve Never Seen A Straight Banana)
True Spark Award
This award was introduced in 2026
2026: Marco Noé (I’ve Never Seen A Straight Banana)
Best SA Woman, Female-Identifying, or Non-Binary Screen Creative
This award was introduced in 2026
2026: Courtney Westbrook (If/When)
Audience Award
2026: If/When (Directed by Courtney Westbrook / Produced by Courtney Westbrook, Chris Shapones, Anna Dvorak & Jasmine Hair / Written by Richie Black)
2025: Dusty (Directed by Jeremy Lindsay Taylor / Produced by Travis Jeffery, Elizabeth Sarah Middleton & Valentin Lang / Written by Travis Jeffery)
2024: Mary in the Mirror (Directed & Written by Justine Vlachoulis / Produced by Trinity-Lee Brown)
2023: Evacuation Afghanistan: The Story of Erfan (Directed & Written by Angus Rawson / Produced by Lila Kolomitsev)
Honourable Mentions
2026:
Miah Madden (Half Past Midnight)
Julian Panette (Half Past Midnight)
Print-Friendly (Directed by Mitchell Netes / Produced by Samantha Dokmanovic / Written by Ishani Phatarpekar)
2025:
Bear (Directed & Written by Rebecca Parker / Produced by Sarah Price)
Sisters (Directed & Written by Luke Neher & Sam Gill / Produced by Elle Marsh)
Once A Year (Directed by Caleb Keyte & Mertcan Omer Damoglu / Produced by Caleb Keyte / Written by Mercan Omer Damoglu)
Letters (Directed, Produced & Written by Aysel Küçüksu)
2024:
Repose (Directed & Written by Nathan Still / Produced by Nathan Still & Natasha Frisch)
The Only Son (Directed & Written by Piotr Matyja / Produced by Wojciech Fry Lewis)
Yakka (Directed & Written by Jack Shepherd / Produced by Matthew Toon & Lena Buchanan)
Monster (Directed & Written by Eric Giessmann & Piers Goffart / Produced by Eric Giessmann)
2023:
The 7th Night: MaoMao Returns (Directed & Written by ahLoong / Produced by Edmund Chan & Raye Lee)
Flappy (Directed, Produced & Written by Darcy Conlan)