2011 AWGIE Award Nominations

17 August, 2011

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The Australian Writers’ Guild is proud to announce the nominations for this year’s AWGIE Awards – judged by writers for writers and awarded for excellence. The writers of Australia’s best loved stage, screen and radio have been nominated for these coveted awards. They are awards which are given for the script alone, recognising that it all starts with the written word.



AWG President, Academy Award nominee Jan Sardi says: ‘The foundation of all great productions is the script. Each year the AWGIE Awards recognise and celebrate the creators of those foundations, the writers. The nominations for this year's AWGIE awards clearly demonstrate the high standard of Australian performance writing. Some of the writers honoured today are familiar names, underscoring the consistent excellence of their work and ongoing contribution to our industry. Equally exciting are the new names and titles reflecting the breadth and vibrancy of Australian scriptwriting talent'

Four of the most recognised names in Australian theatre, Patricia Cornelius, Tom Holloway, Scott Rankin and Melissa Reeves are contending for the coveted AWGIE Award for Stage, while the Feature Film categories highlights some of the extraordinary new writing talent in our industry today.

Nominated in this year's Feature Film - Original category are Ben C. Lucas’ Wasted on the Young and Here I Am by Beck Cole. Also nominated is Burning Man by Jonathan Teplitzky, which has been selected to screen at this year’s Toronto Film Festival.

In the Feature Film: Adaptation category, three major book adaptations are up for the award; Stuart Beattie for John Marsden’s international bestseller Tomorrow When the War Began, Alison Addison for Julia Leigh’s The Hunter and Shaun Grant for the chilling Snowtown.Â

Versatile writer Alice Addison is also up for a children’s television award for the hit My Place: 1808 Sarah, joining Nicholas Parsons for My Place: 1868 Minna and Rachel Spratt for Gasp!: Fish Stick.

Again this year, two scripts from the hit program Underbelly vie for the Television Mini-Series Adaptation. The Underbelly Files are the third mini-series in the Underbelly ‘phenomenon’ to be nominated for an AWGIE award.

In the comedy categories, Laid, by Marieke Hardy, has been nominated for Comedy: Situation or Narrative, along with previous winners Phil Lloyd and Trent O'Donnell for Review with Miles Barlow and Paul Fenech for Housos. The Good News Week writers once again dominate the Comedy - Sketch or Light Entertainment category, recognition for some of Australia's most watched comedy writers.

Multiple AWGIE award winner Katherine Thomson is up for a incredible tenth AWGIE Award.

Other prizes to be announced on the night include the $25,000 FOXTEL Fellowship for excellence in television writing, the $30,000 Kit Denton Disfellowship and the $15,000 John Hinde Award for Science Fiction and the Major AWGIE Award for most outstanding script of 2011.

The AWGIE Awards are the only Australian scriptwriting awards judged solely by writers on the basis of the script. Bookings for the 44th AWGIE Awards are open now.

2011 AWGIE AWARD NOMINATIONS

MONTE MILLER AWARD: SHORT FORM
Falling on Deaf Ears – Paul Bugeja
Liv – Pauline Findlay
Space – Jill Moylan
The Mind Job – J.J. Winlove

MONTE MILLER AWARD: LONG FORM
Lucid – Philip Denson
Gifted – Laura Greaves
Sox – Steve Harrison
The Non-Believers – Steve Mitchell
Diving for Poland – Andrea Rogers
Falling Star – Meg Shields

SHORT FILM
Two Ships – Nicky Arnall
Heck – Lisa Hoppe with Bobbie Waterman
Tethered – Craig Irvin
After The Credits – Josh Lawson
The Palace – Anthony Maras

INTERACTIVE
Only one nomination and the winner will be announced on the night.

DOCUMENTARY: PUBLIC BROADCAST
The Tall Man – Tony Krawitz
The Long Walk of Brother Benedict – Linda Neil

DOCUMENTARY: CORPORATE & TRAINING
Only one nomination and the winner will be announced on the night.

RADIO: ORIGINAL
Water Tight – Donna Cameron

Weeds Etc. – Noelle Janaczewska

The Clerk Ascending – Gina Schien

RADIO: ADAPTATION
The Stepping Stars of Boronkowice - Noelle Janaczewska

King Tide – Katherine Thomson

STAGE
Do Not Go Gentle – Patricia Cornelius
Love Me Tender – Tom Holloway
Namatjira – Scott Rankin
Furious Mattress – Melissa Reeves

MUSIC THEATRE
The Cockatoos – Sarah Carradine
The Musical Child – Cathryn Strickland

COMMUNITY & YOUTH THEATRE
Yet to Ascertain the Nature of the Crime – Roanna Gonsalves with Raimondo Cortese, Damien Millar, Görkem Acaroglu with the company.
Ithaca Road – Robert Kronk

CHILDREN'S THEATRE
Dr Egg and the Man with No Ear – Catherine Fargher
The African Musician – Afeif Ismail
The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly – Finegan Kruckemeyer

THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES

Moth – Declan Greene
Romeo and Juliet Intensive – Ned Manning

CHILDREN’S TELEVISION: P CLASSIFICATION
Only one nomination and the winner will be announced on the night.

CHILDREN’S TELEVISION: C CLASSIFICATION
My Place: 1808 Sarah – Alice Addison
My Place: 1868 Minna – Nicholas Parsons

Gasp!: Fish Stick – Rachel Spratt

COMEDY: SKETCH OR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
Good News Week: Australia Decides 2010 - Dave Bloustien, Simon Dodd, Bruce Griffiths, Warwick Holt, Paul Livingston and Ian Simmons
Good News Week: Episode 3.30 - Dave Bloustien, Simon Dodd, Bruce Griffiths, Warwick Holt, Paul Livingston and Ian Simmons
Good News Week: The First Cut - Dave Bloustien, Simon Dodd, Bruce Griffiths, Warwick Holt, Paul Livingston and Ian Simmons

COMEDY: SITUATION OR NARRATIVE
Laid: Episode 4 - Marieke Hardy
Housos: Pregnant – Paul Fenech
Review With Myles Barlow: Series 2 Episode 1 – Phil Lloyd with Trent O’Donnell

TELEVISION: MINI SERIES ORIGINAL

Small Time Gangster – Gareth Calverley and Joss King
East West 101 - Season 3: The Hero’s Journey – Vanessa Bates, Michael Miller, Michelle Offen, David Ogilvy, Katherine Thomson, Kristine Wyld with Steve Knapman
Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo – Christopher Lee

TELEVISION: SERIAL
Home and Away - Episode 5215 – Cameron Welsh
Neighbours - Episode 6018 – Anthony Morris

TELEVISION: SERIES
Rake - Episode 5: R v. Chandler - Peter Duncan
Spirited - Episode 7: Riders on the Storm - Jacquelin Perske
City Homicide - Episode 83: Last Man Standing – Mia Tolhurst

TELEMOVIE ORIGINAL
Underbelly Files: Tell Them Lucifer Was Here – Peter Gawler
Underbelly Files: The Man Who Got Away – Kris Mrksa

FEATURE FILM: ADAPTATION

The Hunter – Alice Addison

Tomorrow, When the War Began – Stuart Beattie
Snowtown – Shaun Grant

FEATURE FILM: ORIGINAL
Here I Am – Beck Cole
Wasted on the Young – Ben C. Lucas
Burning Man – Jonathan Teplitzky