Awards February 26, 2026

Australian Audio Awards event hosts revealed

RadioToday Network

Bianca Dye and Mitch Churi have just been announced as hosts of the new 2026 Australian Audio Awards.

The awards event will take place at Carriageworks, Sydney, in May.

Key Dates for the Awards:

Entries have been open since November last year. Register and submit here
Entries close Friday, 6 March 2026… HURRY!
Judging begins 13 March
Shortlist finalists announced Tuesday, 31 March
Ticket purchases will open at the beginning of April for the awards night event
Awards Event Thursday, 28 May 2026

Bianca Dye has had some memorable moments over the years at the ACRAs:

The time Christian O’Connell missed the chance to present his award, so gatecrashed hers. She’s a Christian fan, so she was happy about that.

When Ray Hadley admitted to everyone from the stage that Bianca was the only person… gasp… female person…to disrupt his winning streak of 159 surveys in a row.

The moment she met one of the loves of her life, and…

The conversation with Dean Buchanan at the awards that propelled her from regional radio to the morning show on the newly launched Nova 96.9.

She knows the importance of awards and celebratory events to the audio industry.

Mitch Churi started out as Kyle and Jackie O’s barista in 2015. Landing himself on air at KIIS weekends less than 12 months later, with no prior radio experience. He went on to host the KIIS nights show, taking it to record ratings.

Mitch also fondly remembers his first awards event.

My first radio awards was 2015, I was nominated for best comedy segment for “the cash cock.” I was hooked!

Now to be back hosting the next generation of awards feels like a dream come true.

Awards highlights for Mitch include Best Presenter at the 2023 Australian Commercial Radio Awards and being presented with the award by an early mentor, Ben Fordham.

Mitch is one of Australia’s most recognised and consumed young broadcast personalities. He is an award winning radio and podcast host who was named ‘Australia’s Most Relatable Broadcaster’ by TalentCorp. He now hosts The Mitch Churi Chat Show.

How to win an Australian Audio Award:

Each category has slightly different answers to these questions, so you need to LOGIN and choose a category to see the exact requirements. These are the steps:

Press ENTER NOW or START YOUR ENTRIES on the main page
REGISTER to set up a profile
LOGIN
Then hit GET STARTED to choose your category and begin your entry using the dropdown category box. More details of exactly what to submit for that category will become available once you have chosen it.
Read the category and scoring details again to check you have chosen the category you want
Keep SCROLLING DOWN to see the upload and submission boxes tailored for that category.
You can save your incomplete entry as you go and come back to it as often as you like before you finally submit it. So if you miss something, it can be added later.

You only pay when you have hit the confirmation button. If you have a discount code, use it at the checkout step. If you are submitting multiple entries for a company and want to be bulk invoiced manually, rather than paying online, it can be arranged. Contact Kristine Abalos, [email protected] for more details.

This is a whole new way of doing awards in the Australian Audio Industry. We hope you will enter into the spirit of it and enjoy the contest between all the sectors, fighting it out for success. Then get dressed up and attend the awards night… perhaps you will meet the love of your life, have a memorable moment or a brush with fame, or get a job offer.

For those lucky enough to win big on the night, the winning entry with the highest score will automatically be entered into the prestigious New York Festivals audio awards to showcase Australia’s industry talent on the world stage. Plus, all of the winning submissions will be archived in the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Don’t miss this opportunity to propel your career to the next level.