Submissions are invited across 20 award categories. In some notable changes this year, a new award will be presented for Best Direction in a Debut Feature Film Award. Entries for this award can be narrative, documentary, or animation and the category has no budget requirements. Also, recognising the rapidly growing on-line audience for short-form stories designed for mobile consumption, a new award will be presented at this year’s awards for Best Direction in an Online Mobile-First Series Episode.

“An ADG Award is an incredibly valued acknowledgement of a director’s creative leadership with our awards remaining the only peer-judged director awards in Australia. So we’re expecting this year’s awards to be as highly-contested as ever and build on the success of last year which saw a record number of entries – more than double any previous year”, says ADG’s Executive Director Alaric McAusland.

“Last year’s nominees and winners, including Cloudy Rhodes and Sanjay Da Silva, reflected a growing diversity in the ranks of Australian directors and our new awards for Debut Feature and Mobile First will open up exciting opportunities for early-career directors and we expect will surface new and diverse voices. They also recognise that great direction is platform-agnostic and found everywhere great stories are told and however they are watched.”

Two other feature film categories have been renamed; Best Direction in a Narrative Feature Film (Budget $1M or over) and Best Direction in a Narrative Feature Film (Budget under $1M). And, recognising continued global platform convergence and massive growth in high quality streaming feature-length content, these categories will now include feature films made for streaming and television as well as for theatrical release. The Drama Serial category has also now been merged with Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Series Episode.

The 2022 ADG AWARD CATEGORIES are:

  1. Best Direction in a Debut Feature Film
  2. Best Direction in a Narrative Feature Film (Budget $1M or over)
  3. Best Direction in a Narrative Feature Film (Budget under $1M)
  4. Best Direction in a Short Film
  5. Best Direction in a Student Film
  6. Best Direction in a Documentary Feature
  7. Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Documentary Series Episode or Documentary One-Off
  8. Best Direction in a Documentary Short Subject
  9. The Esben Storm Award for Best Direction in a Children’s TV or SVOD Series Episode
  10. Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Drama Series Episode
  11. Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Comedy Series Episode
  12. Best Direction in a TV or SVOD Miniseries Episode
  13. Best Direction in an Online Drama Series Episode
  14. Best Direction in an Online Comedy Series Episode
  15. Best Direction in an Online Mobile-First Series Episode
  16. Best Direction in Animation
  17. Best Direction in a Commercial Advertisement
  18. Best Direction in a Commercial Content
  19. Best Direction in a Music Video
  20. Best Direction in an Interactive or Immersive Project

The ADG will once again honour the much-loved First AD ‘JC’ John Clabburn’s incredible achievements and extraordinarily collaborative spirit with an Award presented in his name at the 2022 awards.

Submissions for the 2022 ADG Awards close at 5pm, Sunday 31st July AEST. The awards are open to current ADG members. A full list of categories, rules and eligibility and submission links can be found on the ADG website: https://adg.org.au/awards

Photo caption:  2021 ADG Award winners Cloudy Rhodes and Sanjay Da Silva
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