Winning an award is always a special moment.
Ravi Kishan
This Indian television personality (and politician) knows all the right phrases to sway his audiences. A Most Popular Actor award winner himself (in 2008), he knows firsthand the joy and awe of receiving high praise.
A killjoy might counter Ravi's appreciative remark with a tart "You've only done half your duty!". That's the line native French speakers deliver to anyone fishing for compliments - or hoping for some award. However, these 15 Logie winners have gone far beyond their duty to entertain us, through the years. Let's rediscover these top names together, and talk about how great they were/are!
| Winner's name | Year(s) won | Nominations, no award |
|---|---|---|
| Bert Newton | 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984 Logie Hall of Fame: 1998 | 1978, 1983 (2x), 2006, 2007 |
| Lisa McCune | 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 | 1996, 2001, 2008 |
| Georgie Parker | 2011, 2012 | 1992, 1993, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 |
| Rove McManus | 2003, 2004, 2005 | 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009. 2010 |
| Kylie Minogue | 1988 | 1989 |
| Daryl Somers | 1983, 1986, 1989 | 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 |
| Lorrae Desmond | 1962 | N/A |
| Ray Martin | 1987, 1993, 1994,1995, 1996 | 1990, 1997, 1998 |
| Kate Richie | 2007, 2008 | 2006, 2009 |
| Hamish Blake | 2012, 2022 | 2013, 2015, 2023 |
| Asher Keddie | 2013 | 2011, 2012, 2015 |
| Carrie Bickmore | 2015 | 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 |
| Waleed Aly | 2016 | 2017, 2019 |
| Rebecca Gibney | 2009 Logie Hall of Fame: 2024 | 2010, 2011 |
| NASA | 1970 (Honorary award) | N/A |
Bert Newton
This television legend hosted the Logie ceremony 19 times, starting in 1968. He was a Gold Logie winner himself, and was the fifth entertainer to be inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.
It was he who, in his Logie hosting debut, bemoaned the lack of female representation in the Golden Logie category. His urgent insistence to never be put on the spot like that again led to changes in categories for the Logie Awards.
Bert is everything you need to know about the Logies.
Lisa McCune
Blue Heelers was arguably one of Australia's most popular cop shows ever. Its story spanned 13 seasons, airing from September 1993 to June 2006. Still today, fans enjoy a rewatch on their favourite streaming platforms. Lisa played Maggie Doyle, a main character, in 255 episodes, leaving at the end of the seventh series.
It was during her Heelers run that she earned her impressive Gold Logie collection. Her collective wins are all the more remarkable for coming at the very start of her career. Prior to Heelers, she'd only appeared in three other productions. She must have been born to play Maggie!
Georgie Parker
Georgie specialises in soap operas, but does her bit for children's programming, too. Between 2006 and 2010, she presented 32 Playschool episodes. Still, she's more renowned for her roles in All Saints and A Country Practice. Both her Gold Logies resulted from her work on All Saints.
Georgie, together with Lisa (above), create a wild statistic. Add Lisa's four-year winning streak to Georgie's back-to-back wins to get a six-year, women-dominated block on the top award.
Rove McManus
When his sister nicknamed him Rove, she likely had no idea she was helping set his life's pace. Rove is literally everywhere, across the entertainment industry. He's on radio and television, on stage and in films. Do we like megadoses of Rove?
It seems we do. He broke the Lisa-Georgie Logie winning streak in 2003, claiming the Golden trophy for himself for the next three years. In fact, he's been nominated for a Gold Logie for nine straight years, from 2002 to 2010.
Kylie Minogue
Kylie was just 19 when she claimed her first Gold Logie, as the Most Popular Actress in Australia. She then picked up two more for her role as Charlene, on Neighbours (1988). Kylie being Australia's Pop Princess, the Logies could hardly overlook her Locomotion video, which gave her Gold Logies for four consecutive years.
Of eight nominations, she claimed her prize six times. Admittedly, her list of music awards is far more extensive, and who could blame her?
She never made a secret of preferring to make music, rather than being on-screen. Still, we appreciate that she steps in front of the camera occasionally, and would happily bestow another Golden statuette on her.
Daryl Somers
In our quest for the fresh and new, we often overlook industry staples who brought us to where we are. Daryl is one such entertainer; his career spans more than 50 years. Like Kylie, Daryl threads the line between music and visual media but, unlike her, seems to feel more at home in a TV studio.
Daryl hosted the Logies five times between 1988 and 1998, and co-hosted once (in 2006). He's claimed his share of statuettes, too. Three Gold Logies, and another 6 in various categories. He also holds a record number of Gold nominations. Twelve times, he ranked among Australia's favourite entertainers.
Lorrae Desmond
The year was 1962, six years before Bert Newton moaned about the lack of female representation in the Logie Awards ceremonies. Lorrae, who had been headlining her own show since 1960, became the first woman to claim Gold. She blazed the trail for all female Logie Award winners to follow.
Let's take a moment to reflect on the history of the Logies. The debut broadcast aired in 1959, and it took three years for a female performer to win the ultimate in television recognition. Thank goodness for Lorrae, who broke barriers ahead of everyone else!
Ray Martin
The Australian television industry is fairly insular; the Logie eligibility guidelines make it more so. Thus, it's no surprise that Ray Martin won five Gold Logies. Three for the daytime program Midday, and two for hosting A Current Affair. Even more remarkable: he dominated the Logies for four consecutive years, from 1993 through 1996 (his first Gold Logie came in 1987).
Ray ties with Graham Kennedy for the most Gold Logies. However, Graham edges him out with his Star of the Year Award, the Gold Logie's forerunner. Is this a popularity contest, or are we counting Logies? Both, and these media personalities were/are equally stellar!
Graham Kennedy is, of course, the television personality who broke the mould. He claimed the first-ever 'top star' statuette (in 1959), and continued demonstrating excellence until his retirement, in 1991.
Kate Richie
This popular entertainer created a unique Gold Logie statistic. She's the last media personality to win back-to-back Gold Logies - male or female, since 2008. Her role as Sally on Home and Away clinched her awards, but she's equally talented and prolific across the entertainment spectrum.
Hamish Blake
Across the Australian entertainment industry, we find personalities with diversified talents. They can sing, dance, act, present, write, and do standup comedy. Several names in this exposé fit this bill; Hamish grows our list by one.
His career spans 22 years (so far), and his Gold Logie wins are remarkable for several reasons. For one, he's the only media personality to win his two Golds ten years apart.
Or did he only snag two? He summed up his 2022 win with this quip:
As there was no Gold Logie in 2020 or 2021, they jackpotted, and this [one] counts for three.
Asher Keddie
People often accuse celebrities of a lack of self-awareness, but nobody could say that about Asher. Upon securing her one Gold Logie (in 2013), she confessed to knowing some of the roles she's played don't make her a fan favourite.
For all that, Asher has racked up an impressive list of wins, that includes five Most Popular and one Outstanding Actress statuettes. She's also one of the most nominated Australian actresses.
Carrie Bickmore
Carrie does not suffer for Logie Award nominations. Between 2012 and 2016, she collected an impressive 10 such calls, each year for the same two categories. Where we're concerned we love Carrie as a presenter; she's the most popular personality, in our books.
The Project fans find Carrie's 2015 Gold Logie win bittersweet. Her acceptance speech was less a reflection of her career in entertainment than an advocacy pitch for brain cancer awareness. And why not?
This beloved star had a good reason for using her platform the way she did. Still, she wrapped up her speech with raw sentiment:
I want to dedicate this award tonight to anyone that is going through a really s--t time right now ...
Waleed Aly
Waleed is another media personality - and another The Project presenter, who used their 2016 Gold Logie win to raise social consciousness.
Admittedly, we don't have many people who look like Waleed on Australian television. That disparity weighs on him, even though he's Australian to the bone. But then, so too are our First Nations People.
Rebecca Gibney
For all of her nominations - and fans' devotion, Rebecca has only one Gold Logie to her name. It came to her in 2009, for her lead role in Packed to the Rafters.
However, Rebecca has a higher claim to fame: she is the fifth woman inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame. Only five female performers in 40 years enjoy this honour: no wonder the Hall of Fame swirls with controversy! Still, her ascension marked a high point in the 2024 Logies ceremony.
Honorary Logie Winners: NASA Astronauts
Few non-Aussies may claim a Gold Logie win, and they do so only by stretching the eligibility rules. The guidelines are clear: nominees must be Australian, and have appeared in an Australian show, produced and broadcast in our country.
The 1969 moon landing enjoyed worldwide coverage. Everywhere that broadcast television was available, people remained glued to their sets, unwilling to miss a moment of this event. As Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong commanded such a great television audience in Australia, TV Week marked their feat with an honorary Logie win.
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