UNSPOILED WINS 2025 AACTA REG GRUNDY AWARD

Jamie Durie, Neville Poelina, and Melanie Hogan PC: AACTA

BY ASAD KHAN AND TANGIORA HINAKI

The 2025 AACTA Reg Grundy Award has been awarded to Unspoiled, a groundbreaking television format that exemplifies bold, original Australian storytelling.

 This year’s competition saw an unprecedented level of creativity and innovation, making it the strongest year of submissions since the award’s inception.

Created by Jamie Durie, Neville Poelina, and Melanie Hogan, Unspoiled takes city dwellers out of their comfort zones and immerses them in the vast Australian outback. 

Participants trade Wi-Fi for wisdom, skyscrapers for red dirt, and routine for rediscovery. Guided by Poelina’s Indigenous knowledge and bush survival skills, they experience a simpler way of life while learning resilience, connection to Country, and practical survival techniques.

One of the Creators, Mr Poelina, a Nyikina man from the Kimberley and respected Indigenous leader, emphasised the importance of living in harmony with the land. Reflecting on what he shares with participants, he states:

“Telling people about how you’re living the wrong way in this beautiful country, you know?”

“You're poisoning yourself with all this stuff. The destruction you're creating—clearing all Country—there’s no more medicine. We’ve got no more medicine. We’ve got no more food.” he said. 

“Before you realise it, it'll be too late. You’ll realise that this Country has all the medicine you need to heal your body. You don’t need to go to a chemist.”

The AACTA Reg Grundy Award, which recognises innovation in television format development, provides a $50,000 prize to support the further development of Unspoiled. 

This year’s awards ceremony will take place in Surfers Paradise on Friday, 7 February 2025.

Click on the link to listen to Tangiora Hinaki speak with Neville Poelina: