The standard was high, the energy contagious, and the original ideas showed the depth of creativity on offer in New Zealand.
The judges had a tough decision to make and much debating took place, but they reached consensus and awarded the international travel prize plus a registration to the 2020 SPADA Conference to Sam Wang and Hweiling Ow with their project 'Homebound 3.0'
Congratulations also to the other seven finalists:
* Sarah Harpur - 'Vanilla Buttercream Farmy Farm' - a 2D Animated Children's Series with a cute but rebellious rabbit as President of the 'I Hate Humans' Club.
* Kieran Charnock & Jonathan Watt of Redface Pictures - 'No Place Like Home' - a Comedy Feature Film that follows the action when three broke students face eviction and decide to turn their flat into a rest home in a bid to get rich quick.
* Tim Batt (& Jack Nicol) - 'Grim' - a 'Supernatural Workplace Comedy Webseries' that follows New Zealand's own Grim Reaper, who needs to stop being so perky and toughen up, or risk destroying herself and handing our country's afterlife sovereignty to Australia.
* Jing Jing Ke - 'Hans & Tweet' - a Stop-Motion Sci-Fi Comedy Series that celebrates friendship in the kookiest way, by following the misadventures of two friends who aspire to be the greatest super-villains in the world! But first, they must start in Morepork City.
* Andrew Vivian - 'Jock Nerds' - A family Feature Film that forces the school's rugby star to work with a cheating math nerd and overcome their differences to earn their spot at the National Mathex tournament.
* Fiona Armstrong & Jonathan James of Tiny Earl Productions - 'Joint Venture' - A Dark Comedy Webseries that dives into the lives of the residents at 'Divine Mercy Hospice' as they struggle to come to terms with their mortality and form ‘The Herb Club’, a secret cannabis society hidden within the hospice’s greenhouse.
* Teresa Bass - 'Nan's Guide to Retirement' - A Black Comedy series that follows 71 year-old Nan as she's put into a retirement home before she's ready, and quickly discovers a bunch of hobbies she never knew she'd love... like murder.