THE 44TH ANNUAL AWGIES CELEBRATE OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE WRITING

26 September, 2011

The stars of the story came out in Sydney on Friday 23 September to celebrate the 44^th Annual Australian Writers’ Guild AWGIE Awards. The awards, which recognise the integral role the story plays in film, television, radio, interactive media and theatre, were presented at Doltone House.

The Major AWGIE and the AWGIE Award for Stage was presented to one of the most renowned names in Australian theatre, Patricia Cornelius, for Do Not Go Gentle, a play which has already received a number of prizes including two state Premier’s Awards and the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award. This will make it an incredible 10 AWGIES for Cornelius.

This year’s Feature Film Original category was won by Jonathan Teplitzky for Burning Man, a film that had its world premier at the Toronto Film Festival this month. Shaun Grant was awarded the Feature Film: Adaption category for Snowtown, which won the Audience Award at the Adelaide Film Festival and President of the Jury Special Award Grand Prix at Critics’ Week in Cannes.

The Underbelly phenomena continued with Peter Gawler winning Telemovie Original for Underbelly Files: Tell Them Lucifer Was Here.

Chris Lilley was awarded the 2011 Fred Parsons Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Comedy. In the other comedy categories, Marieke Hardy received the Comedy: Situation or Narrative award for Laid: Episode 4 while Good News Week won for the third year in a row for the Comedy: Sketch or Light Entertainment award for Good News Week: Australia Decides 2010.

Renowned Australian scriptwriter Katherine Thomson was awarded her ninth AWGIE in the Radio: Adaptation category for King Tide.

The $25,000 FOXTEL Fellowship for excellent in television writing was given to Kris Mrska. Kris has won numerous prizes and accolades including two AFI Awards and now three AWGIES. He was recently involved in adapting Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap for TV and was a key part of the team that developed Underbelly 2 and 3. Â

TV Screenwriter and multi-award winning author Ian David won the Richard Lane Awardfor Outstanding Service and Dedication to the Australian Writers’ Guild. Ian has an impressive list of credits including Killing Time and Blue Murder and received the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to Australian society and Australian film production.

 “The AWGIE Awards are all about excellence in performance writing and tonight we have celebrated the craft and unique talent of those writers responsible for the best scripts of the past year.  While some of our winners have built their careers doing it, we've also uncovered some bright new talents whose stellar careers are only just beginning. ” said Australian Writers’ Guild President Jan Sardi.

The AWGIES are unique in the industry in that they are the only writers' awards judged solely by writers, and the judging is based on the written script - the writer's intention rather than the finished product. Â

A full list of the 2011 AWGIE Award winners is here.