What's New
BY Sarah Patterson June 22, 2026
What's New September 25, 2025
The ACRAs off for good
Commercial Radio and Audio (CRA) has sent an email to members this morning advising that the Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs) have been permanently cancelled.
The 2025 event was postponed initially to 2026 with CRA now saying the money for the ceremony would be better utilised elsewhere.
The CEO of CRA Lizzie Young said “Our focus on long term sustainability across the industry needs to be our number one priority. After careful consideration in consultation with our Board and Members, we’re directing our resources into initiatives like Sound Start, CRA Audio ID and HEARD, and regulatory matters such as Radio Prominence where we can have the greatest impact supporting our industry’s future.”
“Individual networks continue to celebrate the amazing work being done across our industry through their own recognition programs. This decision was not taken lightly, but I firmly believe radio has a bright and exciting future in Australia, and this positions us to build that future.”
What a disgraceful decision.
Thousands of people across our industry strive throughout the year to create something worthy of recognition.
I’m sorry, most of us have never heard about these CRA initiatives and let’s be honest, internal awards systems aren’t the same.
Here’s a tip, keep the awards going without the ceremony…
What hope is there when our own industry body has thrown in the white towel?
Nothing says confidence in the industry like cancelling the only peer recognition available. This flat out sucks
You know it’s bad when the industry can’t even afford to pat themselves on the back. Yikes.
Wow, I hope the board members who made this disgraceful decision are named. I’m sure the country and regional announcers who only once a year get the opportunity to mix with those from the bigger stations will gain absolutely nothing from the initiatives you mentioned the resources will be applied to instead. This important night should be the last thing cancelled if you want the industry to continue.
This is a terrible decision. I feel sorry for the up-and-comers who would use this event to network with others.
But then again:
* Tickets / entries were becoming terribly expensive. Especially when the meals served Crown Lager for the price.
* Competition was getting smaller as the larger companies were buying out each other’s regional stations, so you were borderline competing against each other internally.
* You lacked large international guest speakers.
* You didn’t stream the awards online for other talent who couldn’t attend or staffers who wanted to support their fellow colleagues could view from home.
* Your social media presence is dismal with updates on the winners not happening fast enough.
* Not enough or new awards were offered or updated. EG: Radio Production was severely neglected for years.
You’ve bitten the hand that fed you, and you’ve confirmed you’re too slow at adapting to today’s audience, technology and standards.
The fact that you say “the money for the ceremony would be better utilised elsewhere” shows that you don’t believe in yourselves, nor the industry. You’re a *commercial* industry for goodness sakes – spend money to make money!
Enough with the fluffy boardroom slang and terms. Sort yourselves out.
The Acras (Rawards) always started off with good intentions, but as the years progressed they ended up becoming a bit of a joke when you had radio announcers winning awards when you personally knew they couldn’t string two words together live, you knew it was always a bit of a con.
Plus they judged you on a 60 second piece of audio , then they had awards for best PD / content director etc how these were judged nobody seemed to know . Plus You just had the same people winning all the time .
Saving money for more paper based surveys? Ding dong.
CRA stands for Cancel Radio Awards.
Most industries don’t have awards nights… Just sayin’
@Simon – they actually do! Most industries do have awards nights!
Great decision.
It’s an ego fest where the same old people win every year.
And how can judges decide by listening to a few minutes of a show that has been slickly produced by the guy in the booth!
Call a spade a spade here, member CEO’s and CFO’s don’t want to pay for tickets, so make Lizzie the fall person by pretending it’s a CRA decision. There are companies out there who run events like this and make a profit, it cannot be that large a drain on existing CRA budgets.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Some comments in this thread have been modified and some containing personal comments have not been published.
I feel like I’m the only one that breathed a sigh of relief when reading this! It is so much work to get the entry ready, nearly impossible to convey what you want in such restricted entry formats, and subjective judging. If you want to mingle with metro or regional people, or old workmates then just have a big party! No awards. No-one remembers year on year who won except the person that has the trophy at home. We are already pitted against each other in surveys. THEY tell us who the winners are. Let’s just have a night of fun!
I totally agree with Jen. The best part about the event is the catchup.
Personally, I find the scale and glitz of the event to be a remnant of the past.
Tuxedos and ball gowns are far too expensive for the average media employee and the best people often don’t enter. The awards need a rethink.