Congratulations to Bond Film and Television alumnus, Samantha Strauss, whose ABC-TV series, Dance Academy, has won the 2013 Logie for Most Outstanding Children’s Program.
This is the second Logie for Dance Academy, which took out the same category two years ago when the first series debuted on ABC3.
Following the trials and tribulations of an Outback teenager who earns a place in the fictional National Academy of Dance, Dance Academy traces its origins back to Samantha’s final year at Bond University when she created Learning to Fly as her graduating film.
Further developing the script as she worked as a casting director on various children’s television series, Sam eventually teamed up with producer Joanna Werner; turning the original short film into an on-going series format.
In 2008, the pair received $10.5 million in funding from Screen Australia and the first series aired in 2010.
In addition to winning a Logie the following year, Dance Academy was also nominated for Best Children’s Television Drama at the 2010 Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards and was renewed for a second series.
Filming on the third series will get underway in the next few weeks.