CQU staff members Kate Ames, Peter Lawrence and Philip Robertson have placed equal second in a national competition to make a short documentary about Canberra.

They will receive a cash prize for 'Walter's Roundabouts', which speculates about the link between the design of Canberra and Theodore in Central Queensland.

The Art of the Documentary Short Film Competition gave entrants only three weeks to produce a five-minute video documentary on the subject "Canberra: Living in Space".

The competition was conducted by the Australian National University and the National Institute of the Humanities and Creative Arts.

The CQU trio's entry initially missed the shortlist because judges did not play it with the audio track (due to a technical glitch on the judging equipment).

However, it was reassessed in time to be placed.