MasterChef Australia: Best Reality TV Production of 2014.

Network Ten and Shine Australia are thrilled to congratulate MasterChef Australia on being named the best reality television production at this evening’s Screen Producers Australia Awards in Melbourne.

Accepting the award on behalf of the production, judges Matt Preston and George Calombaris paid tribute to the hard-working team behind the scenes who made MasterChef Australia an outstanding success in 2014.

Network Ten Chief Programming Officer, Beverley McGarvey, said: “The combination of great cooks, great food, great contestants and a great crew made MasterChef Australia the fastest-growing reality television series in Australia this year.

“The Screen Producers Australia Award is a great tribute to the show and everyone who worked on it. Thank you to the judges, the rest of the cast, the crew and everyone at Network Ten and Shine Australia who worked on the show. We are all very excited about bringing more great food and great cooks to Australians next year with Series 7 of MasterChef Australia.”

Peter Newman, Shine Australia’s Director of Programming agreed, adding: “There is a truly passionate and special team who put together MasterChef Australia.

“We’re proud not only to have won the Screen Producers Australia Award, but to have delivered a program in Series 6 that was honest and true to its promise of showcasing Australia’s best home cooks cooking extraordinary food. We can’t wait to see what great cooks emerge for 2015.”

MasterChef Australia’s positioning of “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Food” resonated strongly with viewers in 2014.

On July 28, more than 2.2 million Australians tuned in to watch Brent Owens crowned the winner of MasterChef Australia. The series’ average capital city and regional audience was 1.3 million. In the capital cities alone, its average audience was 1.02 million, up 31% on last year’s season.

MasterChef Australia was also a hit online this year, with 16.1 million video views on www.tenplay.com.au during its run – up 110% on 2013 and the highest ever in the history of the program – and 19.9 million page views, up 23%.

Series 7 of MasterChef Australia is currently in production and will air on Network Ten in 2015.