Top 5 Finalists Announced for the AACTA Reg Grundy Award

Top 5 Finalists Announced for the AACTA Reg Grundy Award with a chance to win $50,000 to bring their unscripted script ideas to life.

The AACTA Reg Grundy Award is back for its sixth year, offering a $50,000 prize to the individual or team with the best pitch for a new unscripted television format. The largest prize of its kind in the world, the Reg Grundy Award is presented by the Australian Academy in partnership with Grundy Media to champion bold new ideas and fast-track the development of original screen entertainment.

This year’s AACTA Reg Grundy Award finalists reflect the heart of what Reg championed, bold originality, and formats that tap into the curiosity of audiences everywhere. Across the Top 5 concepts, the creators are tackling challenges and meaningful issues facing Australians today, while delivering engaging and original television ideas.

A Little Help, led by beloved Australian actor Pia Miranda and director Nicholas Verso, explores whether we can trust someone else with our love lives by making them our matchmaker.

Return to Sender by Lisa Rufus turns postal mysteries into real-world investigations that celebrate human connection and nostalgia. Meanwhile, filmmaker Thomas Hyland’s Elephants confront polarising social issues, using the lens of couples therapy to bridge divides.

The Quick Flip proves that beautiful spaces are achievable even during a cost-of-living crisis, with the presenter Natalie Archer drawing on her own lived experience, from life in a caravan to transforming her first rental into a true home. Bringing communities together sits at the centre of Brains on Tap!, a joyful travel meets trivia format created by a husband-and-wife producing and writing team Craig Smith and Kate Armon.

This year’s judging panel features some of the industry’s most accomplished format creators and executives. Joining our returning judges is Wes Dening, Head of Global Formats at Eureka, (Holey Moley and Australian Idol). Returning to the judging panel is Paul Hardy (Alone, Beauty and The Geek), Marion Farrelly (Big Brother, X Factor), media leader and former Fremantle Regional CEO for Australia Asia Pacific Ian Hogg, and U.S-based executive Sharon Wheeler who helped develop and adapt Grundy International Series for American audiences. 

“Congratulations to our Top 5 finalists. These projects represent one of the strongest fields we’ve had, with a wide range of assured formats that impressed our judges who, amongst them, bring decades of international production experience. It’s a really interesting cohort of creatives this year too, with a diverse mix of screen production background and lived experience” said AACTA Awards and Industry Development Manager, Ivan Vukusic.

This initiative honours Reg Grundy, a pioneer of television whose entrepreneurial vision reshaped the industry. His creations and adaptations include Sale of the Century, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, The Price is Right and Perfect Match, as well as long-running dramas Sons & Daughters, Prisoner and Neighbours, the latter becoming Australia’s longest-running drama and a launchpad for international stars including Russell Crowe, Margot Robbie and Liam Hemsworth. 

The finalists include-

Return to Sender - Lisa Rufus

In this factual, unscripted television series, a team of warm and inquisitive hosts explore the fascinating world of Australia’s undelivered mail, following lost letters, mystery parcels, and forgotten packages as efforts are made to reunite them with their intended recipients. Alongside these real-world investigations, the series celebrates the history and culture of letter writing, with plans to launch school-based pen-pal programs that encourage new generations to connect through the written word. Blending history, heart, and human curiosity, it reveals how every forgotten letter carries a story waiting to be delivered.

The Quick Flip: - Natalie Archer

One woman. One room. Five days.

The Quick Flip follows designer and presenter Natalie Archer as she proves you don’t need a huge budget or big crew to create something beautiful. With around $3,000, clever up cycling, and a little help from homeowners, she transforms everyday Australian spaces, empowering people to believe that if she can do it, maybe they can too.

Elephants:  Thomas Hyland

In a world of deepening culture wars, Elephants takes the format of couples counselling and applies it to conflict resolution. Each week strangers from opposite sides of today’s most polarising issues meet a counsellor for an intimate therapy session that peels back hardened positions to reveal the human stories beneath.

 BRAINS ON TAP!: - Craig Smith, Kate Armon

Brains on Tap! is a travelling trivia show that hits the road to find Australia’s sharpest minds and the most interesting locals. Each week, the hosts arrive in a new town where teams face off in a battle of brains, banter, and bragging rights, all for a place in the Spectacular Grand Final. Part quiz, part travel adventure, and full of heart, Brains on Tap! is smart, feel-good entertainment for the whole family.

 A Little Help: Pia Miranda, Nicholas Verso

Two people, both unlucky in love, from opposites sides of life, have to help each other find a lasting relationship.

A Little Help is a heart-warming factual-entertainment series created by Pia Miranda and Nicholas Verso that blends the emotional honesty of Love on the Spectrum with the playful structure of Married at First Sight. The series is hosted and narrated by Pia (Looking for Alibrandi, winner of Australian Survivor), whose empathy, wit, and curiosity make her the perfect guide through the chaos of modern love as we explore the question - Can you trust your heart to someone else?

The winner will be announced at the 2026 AACTA Awards Ceremony, alongside Australia’s top honours in film, television and storytelling.

For more information on the initiative click here.