The Australian Fathering Awards have been an annual event since 1957, celebrating the essential role that fathers, father figures and workplaces play in fostering safe, thriving families and communities.

This is the first year that two fathers will receive the Australian Father of the Year Award.

David Campbell teared up as he took to the stage to accept The Fathering Project award, reflecting on what it means to be dad to his three children, Leo, Billy and Betty.

"I can honestly tell you we won the lottery, we really did," Campbell said.

"They teach us how to parent them as individuals for all their own needs, their talents and their unbelievable zest for life, I am the father that I am today - of the year - because I fathered them.

"So to Leo, Billy and Betty, thank you for being patient, I had no idea what I was doing, but you make me laugh and for the most part you listen to your mum and I when we try to guide you through this fantastical life that you're going to live," he added.

Jimmy Barnes wasn’t there to attend the awards, but Campbell took the opportunity to speak on how his father moulded him into the man he is today.

"He had a lot of trauma, a lot of abuse, which he's written about, and he's had to overcome all of that, and of course, he had a lot of problems in his life.

"But the fact that he then became a parent with Jane, to my brothers and sisters and to me, has been the thing that he's been able to improve his past and change the future by raising us and giving us the tools that we needed to be better.”

"And for me, no matter what, he's been my North Star, even with his mistakes, because I watch him improve on that all the time and he's an incredible grandfather to not only my kids, but the 127 grandkids he has.

"But also, I watch him as a father and as I'm ageing as well and how to improve my parenting as they get taller and they mature and how I have to change the way I parent and communicate with them."