2nd AACTA Awards

The 2nd Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (generally known as AACTA Awards) are a series of awards which includes the 2nd AACTA Awards Luncheon, the 2nd AACTA Awards ceremony and the 2nd AACTA International Awards. The former two events were held at the Star Event Centre, in Sydney, New South Wales on 28 January and 30 January 2013, respectively.^[2] Presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), the awards celebrated the best in Australian feature film, television, documentary and short film productions of 2012. The AACTA Awards ceremony was televised on Network Ten. Actor Russell Crowe hosted the show. These awards are a continuum of the Australian Film Institute Awards (known as the AFI Awards), established in 1958 and presented until 2010, which was rebranded the AACTA Awards when the Australian Film Institute (AFI) established AACTA in 2011.^[3]

On 9 May 2012, the Academy revealed a new category for Best Reality Television Series, due to a growth in reality programming in Australia. The recipient of the Raymond Longford Award was Al Clark, for his work as a film producer, and the Byron Kennedy Award was handed out posthumously to Sarah Watt. The nominees were announced during a press conference on 3 December 2012. The Sapphires won eleven of the thirteen film awards it was nominated for, including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Other feature film winners were Wish You Were Here with two awards, and Lore, Not Suitable for Children and Iron Sky with one. In the television categories Howzat! Kerry Packer's War and Redfern Now won two awards, and A Moody Christmas, The Adventures of Figaro Pho, Agony Aunts, The Amazing Race Australia, Jack Irish: Bad Debts, Lowdown, Puberty Blues, Rake and Underbelly: Badness with one.