2025 Festival Award Winners
Best In Category Awards
Best Cabaret
Winner
Too Much
Nominees
ACTRESS
Adore Händel’s Cautionary Tales
DECADENCE: 10 Years of YUMMY
TOMAS CLIFFORD GOT STOOD UP
Best Circus
Winner
Strange Chaos
Nominees
Banquet
CAKE - Late Bite
Elixir Revived
GO / NO GO
Best Comedy
Winner
Birds
Nominees
84BY Crash Lands on Earth
Alanah Parkin’s Garage Sale
Adam McKenzie ONE MAN SKETCH SHOW (NO Special Guests Allowed!)
Janty Blair - Six Deadly Decades with Aunty Janty
Man Sings The Same Song Over And Over Again For An Hour
Mel McGlensey is NORMAL
The Lady Will Have
Best Dance and Physical Theatre
Winner
Sissy
Nominees
두물머리 Dumulmeori (where two rivers meet)
Mass Effect
Ngambaa
The Ache
Best Experimental
Winner
UNWOMAN (the protest)
Nominees
No Seasons
REQUIEM FOR A CUDDLE
Tattoo Show
Best Kids
Winner
Whirlwind
Nominees
Outback Jams!
The Comedy Games with Coach Mon
The Vegetable Plot
Best Music
Winner
Lung Swara
Nominees
Amalfi Roast
MacroVerse
MZAZA: The Birth and Death of Stars
Silent Hand Catches Silver Bell - Speak Percussion 25th Anniversary Exhibition
Best Theatre
Winner
AUTO-TUNE
Nominees
How to Art
Motion Sickness
Sh!t Theatre: Or What's Left Of Us
Sincere Apologies
THE BLOK!
The Ship
The Subplot: A hyperfixation on the Titan submersible
Best Visual Arts and Film
Winner
Club Rewind
Nominees
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari…Rescored!
The Journey We Take Together
The Women Inside: Four Frames of Womanhood
Best Words and Ideas
Winner
Lindsay Green's Escalator Podcast Reunion
Nominees
Queer Joy: Stories of Delight, Defiance and Triumph
Special Awards
Access and Inclusion Award
No Seasons
Crowd Pleaser Award
I Promise This Isn’t About You (Even If It Feels Like It Is)
Director's Choice
REQUIEM FOR A CUDDLE
Sound and Technical Excellence Award supported by Front of House Productions
Creature
Venue of the Year
Grouse Melbourne
Best Work by an Emerging Artist
Winner
TOMAS CLIFFORD GOT STOOD UP
Nominees
Banquet
bodies no bodies
Chimp
Down the Hallway, to Your Left
Elysian Blues II
Poems of a Transexual Nature
The Comedy Games with Coach Mon
THE JOURNEY WE TAKE TOGETHER
Spirit of the Fringe
Winner
Man Sings The Same Song Over And Over Again For An Hour
Nominees
ACTRESS
Elysian Blues II
GO / NO GO
How to Art
Lindsey Green's Escalator Podcast Reunion
Mass Effect
Outback Jams!
Sky Could be Blue
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari…Rescored!
Touring Awards
Edinburgh Touring Award supported by Summerhall
Man Sings The Same Song Over And Over Again For An Hour
New Zealand Touring Award supported by New Zealand Fringe
MEMBER
NSW Touring Award supported by Sydney Fringe
Motion Sickness
QLD Touring Award supported by Brisbane Comedy Festival
Birds
SA Touring Award supported by Adelaide Fringe
Too Much
WA Touring Award supported by FRINGE WORLD Festival
Cabaret Time Machine
Artist Development Awards
Artform Shaker Award supported by Theatre Network Australia
Wasteworlds: Non-stop Runway Show
Best Emerging Indigenous Artist supported by the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts & Cultural Development (VCA & MCM)
Poems of a Transsexual Nature
Best Emerging Producer supported by MILKE
Claudia Harris
Change Maker Award supported by Theatre Network Australia
Is Anyone Even Watching?
Comedy New Work Award supported by Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Emerging Company Incubator Award supported by Monash’s Faculty of Arts
The Break
Geelong Creative Development Award supported by Geelong Arts Centre
MEMBER
Headroom Award supported by RISING
AUTO-TUNE
New Writing Award supported by Melbourne Theatre Company
A Guide to Being Immortal
Outstanding Newcomer supported by Auspicious Arts Projects
Is Anyone Even Watching?
Outstanding Production Design by Deakin University
The Quieter You Become
Showcase Ready Award supported by Victorian Association Performing Arts Centre
REFINED by Katy Warner