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South Australian productions take top honours at SPA Awards
09 May 2025
South Australia’s screen sector triumphed at the Screen Producers Australia (SPA) Awards on the Gold Coast last night, with three SA made and SAFC supported productions winning awards and accolades.
SA made and SAFC supported Stan. Original series Thou Shalt Not Steal was the winner of Drama Series Production of the Year. The Ludo Studios production from series co-creators Dylan River and Tanith Glynn-Maloney was filmed across South Australia and the Northern Territory in late 2023.
Adelaide Studios-based animation studio Karu-Karu was also a winner, with their short film Wishes: Windows & Nests claiming Short Film Production of the Year. From SA writer/director Ana Maria Mendez Salgado, SA writer/producer Carlos Manrique Clavijo and SA writers Ruth Estelle and Pete Monaghan of Word Ninjas and Sarah Gomes-Harris, the short was supported by the SAFC’s Matched Market Development Fund.
The Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network (SDIN) also announced South Australian feature documentary Songs Inside as Highly Commended for the annual SDIN Award, which recognises an Australian-based project, producer and/or production company and/or screen organisation that has made a significant contribution, through excellence or impact to diversity and inclusion either on or off screen in the Australian screen industry.
Written, directed and produced by Shalom Almond and produced by Katrina Lucas and Lauren Drewery, the SAFC supported film follows First Nations singer-songwriter Nancy Bates and the ground-breaking music program she led with inmates at the Adelaide Women’s Prison – the “Songbirds”. The film also received support from the Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) Investment Fund, and won the Feature Documentary Audience Award at AFF 2024.
As the host organisation for the SDIN, the SAFC was proud to announce the winner of this year’s SDIN Award as factual series The Assembly, produced by HELIUM Pictures for the ABC, with SAFC CEO Kate Croser presenting the trophy at last night’s SPA Awards ceremony.
It was a strong year for South Australia at the SPA Awards, with these accolades coming among a raft of nominations: Teenage Boss – Next Level was nominated for Children’s Production of the Year (Excluding Animation); Australia’s Sleep Revolution with Dr Michael Mosley was nominated for Documentary Series Production of the Year; and Netflix series Territory was nominated for Drama Series Production of the Year.
View the full list of winners and nominees here.