The following students were selected to feature in the 2026 VCE Season of Excellence as part of the Top Screen held at ACMI from Tuesday 17 March to Tuesday 5 May 2026 and Geelong Arts Centre Monday 11 May 2026.

• Soumil Aggarwal - LUCKLESS - Beaconhills College
• Anna Barbara - Fish Soup - Methodist Ladies' College
• Lillian Boyd - Alley - Notre Dame College
• Zoe Bryant - Connecting Materials - Footscray High School
• Dylan Burrows - Mr. Bop - Prahran High School
• Thomas Corboy - A Disagreement - Sacred Heart College
• Henry Ferguson - In the Trees - Bass Coast College
• Dari Justin - Grow Up - St Michael's Grammar School
• Victoria Kammel - BlackBoxWarrior - OKULTRA - Nazareth College
• Joshua McMillan - Willowshade - Donvale Christian College
• Andrew Nguyen - Steady, As She Goes - Balwyn High School
• Claudio Rienzo - Final Cut - Ashwood High School
• Sophie Rosenthal - Siren Song - Trinity Grammar School
• Jake Symes - Embers of the past - Padua College
• Eleftherios Tsitsiras - Crossroads - Parkdale Secondary College

Each year, the VCAA awards Top Screen Jury Prizes and the People's Choice Award to recognise filmmaking talent and encourage further development of skills and passion. The Awards are generously supported by Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) and ACMI.

Jury Prize

Congratulations to the following Top Screen 2026 filmmakers, whose work was selected by a panel of expert jurors.

• Winner: Embers of the past, Dir. Jake Symes from Padua College, Mornington
• Runner-Up: Connecting Materials, Dir. Zoe Bryant from Footscray High School
• 2nd Runner-Up: Steady, As She Goes, Dir. Andrew Nguyen from Balwyn High School

These Jury Prize winners are invited to join the MIFF Schools Youth Jury for 2026.

People's Choice Award

Congratulations to the following Top Screen 2026 filmmakers, whose work was recognised with the most audience votes across in-cinema screenings after tallying over 1500 votes.

• Winner: A Disagreement, Dir. Thomas Corboy from Sacred Heart College, Kyneton
• Runner-Up: Grow Up, Dir. Dari Justin from St Michael’s Grammar School 

The VCE Season of Excellence team at the VCAA organises and facilitates a panel of Media teachers from metropolitan and regional Government, Catholic and Independent Schools to view and shortlist Top Screen applications.

The Curriculum Manager for VCE Media oversees the panel, ensuring all work is considered fairly and represents best practice according to curriculum. The VCE Season of Excellence team have no input into which films are selected.

After all applications have been viewed and shortlisted, the selection panel meets one final time to select the final program. Factors such as balance, length and copyright status can influence which films are included in the final selection.

VCE Media films and animations selected for Top Screen are also showcased as part of the Top Designs exhibition at Melbourne Museum alongside other VCE Media production forms.

Selection criteria

Works selected must:

• achieve an A+ or A on the School-assessed Task (moderated score)
• be appropriate for public screening
• provide evidence of copyright clearance and/or citation for all non-original material used
• be accompanied by an Authentication Record Form (VCE studies), signed by the student and their teacher

Works are selected that:

• are accompanied by an exemplary:
  • research portfolio
  • production experiments with accompanying documentation
  • a pre-production plan
  • production notes documenting post-production, feedback and distribution
• demonstrate an understanding of all stages of the media production process through development, pre-production, production, post-production and distribution
• demonstrate a high level of critical, creative and reflective thinking to develop, refine and resolve the media production
• demonstrate an understanding of media codes and conventions, materials and technologies used to develop, resolve and refine the media production

ACMI welcomes all visitors and offers access services that may improve your experience at the museum. For further information about access at ACMI go to the museum’s Accessibility page.

Top Screen includes Open Caption screenings, and all Top Screen venues welcome all visitors and offer access services that may improve your experience. For further information, visit ACMI’s Accessibility page and Plan Your Visit to Geelong Art Centre, or email seasonofexcellence@education.vic.gov.au

Large Print Programs

 

Large Print PDF versions of the Top Screen program are available during the screening season upon request. This can be enlarged to suit your visibility requirements and printed before you attend. You can also choose the Read Aloud software option to convert the text into spoken word, to hear a description of the short films before you attend. Please email seasonofexcellence@education.vic.gov.au to request the program in either PDF or Microsoft Word format.

The VCAA provides a suite of resources to accompany VCE Season of Excellence programs. These resources are provided to students and educators across Victoria to support learning across various study areas.

Top Designs and Top Screen Annotated Folios

A selection of folio pages annotated by the State Reviewer for each study are available upon request. 

Behind Top Screen

Join Top Screen filmmakers and the VCE Media Curriculum Manager as they discuss how to build an effective VCE Media folio through the stages of production.

Watch Behind Top Screen 2026 online via ACMI’s Cinema 3, or submit a request for Behind Top Screen 2025.

Visit Season Resources to explore more.