45th Annual AWGIE Awards Nominees

11 July, 2012

The Australian Writers’ Guild announces the nominees for the 45^th AWGIE awards

The nominees this year reflect the abundance of high quality scriptwriters Australia has produced.

“The AWGIES are a unique opportunity to celebrate the writers whose stories have shaped our national culture including feature films, theatre, TV series and serials, mini-series, radio, interactive, animation and children’s productions,” says AWG’s President and Academy Award nominee Jan Sardi. “This rich crop of writers is a sure sign Australia can match it with the best from anywhere in the world when it comes to performance writing, and that's something to celebrate in this, the 50 year anniversary of the Guild.”

The AWGIE Awards are the only Australian scriptwriting awards judged solely by writers on the basis of the script.The first AWGIES in 1968 included only five categories whereas today we have over 30 categories, ensuring that every performance writing discipline is catered for.

In the output of this year’s nominees we can see a tilt toward re-telling those Australian stories which have become central parts of our history.Stories from the dramatisations of Mabo, Beaconsfield and The Sapphires to the darker side of our larrikin culture in Underbelly and Katherine Thomson’s historical recreation Australia on Trial: The Mount Rennie Outrage.

Australia’s best screenplays this year show we haven’t lost our ability to laugh at ourselves, with fierce competition in the comedy category with Marieke Hardy’s Laid 2 and Agony Uncles.

The sought-after AWGIE award for Stage includes many inspiring Australian playwrights that we should be seeing more of in major theatres around the country. Lally Katz with Neighbourhood Watch is nominated with Vanessa Bates’ Porn.Cake, Lachlan Philpott’s Silent Disco, Alex Broun’s 10,000 Beers and Ron Elisha’s Man in the Middle.

The feature film adaptation category this year has two very strong contenders - Judy Morris’ The Eye of the Storm, starring Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davies, and The Sapphires from Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs. The story of four young, talented Aboriginal girls who entertain US troops in Vietnam as part of a girl group, premiered at the 2012 Cannes FilmFestivalearlier this year.

Michael Lucas’ star continues to rise as he has been nominated for his first original feature filmNot Suitable for Children, currently showing nationally with Ryan Kwanten as the lead. The other strong nominees are Last Dance by Terence Hammond and David Pulbrook andthe emotionally charged drama Wish You Were Here, written by Kieran Darcy-Smith and Felicity Price andstarring Joel Edgerton.Michael Lucas has also been nominated for the television series Offspring. Also nominated in the series categoryare three scripts from the popular Spirited series, written by Alice Bell, Ian Meadow and Jacquelin Perske.

In television, the gripping adaptation by the team of writers behind The Slap is up against Underbelly: Razor in the television mini-series category. Peter Gawler will be hoping for his ninth AWGIE award this year as part of the Underbelly team. Susan Smith has been nominated for the powerful original telemovieMabo along with Judi McCrossin for Beaconsfield, the dramatic rescue of trapped miners that engrossed the nation.

The comedy categories include the controversial series about our Prime Minister At Home with Juliawhich nominated with last year’s category winner Marieke Hardy for Laid 2 and the husband and wife team Amanda Brotchie and Adam Zwar, along with Trudy Hellier, for Lowdown. The Good News Week writing team has been nominated for their ninth AWGIE award with new series Agony Uncles, by Adam Zwarthe frank series about love and relationships from the perspective of Aussie blokes.

Prolific writer and multiple award winner Katherine Thomson is up for her tenth AWGIE award for Australia On Trial: The Mount Rennie Outrage in the documentary public broadcast category.

Other prizes to be announced on the night include the major AWGIE award for most outstanding script of 2012, the $25,000 FOXTEL Fellowship for excellence in television writing, the $30,000 Kit Denton Disfellowship, the $15,000 John Hinde Award for Science Fiction and the Monte Miller Awards for unproduced scripts. 

The AWGIE Awards will be held at Doltone House in Sydney on Friday 24 August 2012. The full list of nominations is listed below.

NOMINEES FOR THE 2012 AWGIE AWARDS

TELEMOVIE ORIGINAL

Beaconsfield - Judi McCrossin
Mabo - Susan Smith

TELEVISION MINI-SERIES - ADAPTATION

The Slap – Emily Ballou, Alice Bell, Brendan Cowell, Kris Mrksa with Cate Shortland
Underbelly: Razor – Peter Gawler, Michaeley O’Brien, Felicity Packard and Jeffrey Truman

TELEVISION MINI-SERIES - ORIGINAL

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

TELEVISION - SERIES

Spirited: If You See Her Say Hello – Alice Bell
Offspring: Episode 206 - Michael Lucas
Spirited: Living In Oblivion – Ian Meadows
Spirited: I'll Close My Eyes - Jacquelin Perske

TELEVISION - SERIAL

Home & Away 5437- Louise Bowes
Home & Away 5391 - Fiona Bozic
Neighbours 6231 (Jim's Death) - Pete McTighe

COMEDY - SKETCH OR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT

Good News Week: State Of The Nation – Dave Bloustien, Simon Dodd, Bruce Griffiths, Paul Livingston, Warwick Holt, Mat Blackwell and Ian Simmons
How Green Was My Cactus - Doug Edwards, Lindy Wilson and Shane Edwards
Agony Uncles: Episode 1 - Adam Zwar

COMEDY – SITUATION OR NARRATIVE

Lowdown: One Fine Gay - Amanda Brotchie, Adam Zwar with Trudy Hellier
Laid 2: Episode 3 - Marieke Hardy
At Home With Julia: Date Night - Rick Kalowski, Phil Lloyd with Amanda Bishop
At Home With Julia: The Leaker - Rick Kalowski, Phil Lloyd with Amanda Bishop

FEATURE FILM - ORIGINAL

Wish You Were Here - Kieran Darcy-Smith and Felicity Price
Last Dance - Terence Hammond and David Pulbrook
Not Suitable For Children - Michael Lucas

FEATURE FILM - ADAPTATION

The Eye Of The Storm - Judy Morris
The Sapphires - Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs

SHORT FILM

Rarer Monsters - Shayne Armstrong and S P Krause
The Wilding - Grant Scicluna

RADIO – ORIGINAL BROADCAST

Paper Moon- Clementine Bendle-Thompson
Random Red - Noëlle Janaczewska
Grinning At The Lid- Paul Livingston

RADIO - ADAPTATION

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

INTERACTIVE MEDIA

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

ANIMATION

FLEA-BITTEN!: Bugs In Black - Ray Boseley
FLEA-BITTEN!: Home Truths - Ray Boseley
The Woodlies: Stormin’ The Fortress - Rob George

DOCUMENTARY - PUBLIC BROADCAST

The Curse Of The Gothic Symphony - Anthony Mullins with Randall Wood
All The Way - Anne Delaney with Paul Ham & Toby Cresswell
Australia On Trial: The Mount Rennie Outrage - Katherine Thomson

DOCUMENTARY - CORPORATE AND TRAINING

Living The Values - Charles Hamlyn-Harris
Q400 Main Landing Gear Wheel Changing - Charles Hamlyn-Harris
La Trobe University For Year 12 Students - Amanda Kerley

COMMUNITY AND YOUTH THEATRE

The Sadness Of Mister Saisson - Chris Thompson
Behind The Cane- Margery Forde and Michael Forde
The Boy With The Longest Shadow - Finegan Kruckemeyer
Cyberbile - Alana Valentine

STAGE

Porn.Cake- Vanessa Bates
10,000 Beers - Alex Broun
Man In The Middle - Ron Elisha
Neighbourhood Watch - Lally Katz
Silent Disco- Lachlan Philpott

CHILDREN’S THEATRE

Love - Finegan Kruckemeyer
This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing - Finegan Kruckemeyer
Snow On Mars - Richard Tulloch with Kim Carpenter and Gale Edwards

CHILDREN’S TELEVISION - P CLASSIFICATION

Guess How Much I Love You: Favourite Thing - David Evans
Guess How Much I Love You: Follow Me - David Evans
Bananas In Pyjamas: The Snowman - Kevin Nemeth
Guess How Much I Love You: Snowflake - Jane Schneider

CHILDREN’S TELEVISION - C CLASSIFICATION

Dance Academy: A Good Life - Roger Monk & Samantha Strauss
Dance Academy: The Prix de Fonteyn - Liz Doran
Dance Academy: The Second - Samantha Strauss

MONTE MILLER AWARD – LONG FORM

Lola - Pauline Findlay
Ashes - Michael Jones
The Box - Claire Phillips
Clinton Black's Class For The Modern Liar - Simon Proud
Boys In The Trees - Nicholas Verso

MONTE MILLER AWARD – SHORT FORM

Safia's Statue- Philip Enchelmaier
The Beekeeper- Will Goodfellow
Love Hurts- Nigel Karikari
The Ravens - Jennifer Perrott
Heatherdale - Duncan Richards
No Answers in a Gun - Kenneth Wallace