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1 December, 2014
The Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG) is thrilled to announce the winners of this year’s John Hinde Awards for Science Fiction.
Thanks to a generous bequest from legendary Australian film critic John Hinde, the AWG presents the John Hinde Awards for Science Fiction to both a produced and unproduced script to encourage, reward and foster creativity in the development and showcasing of exceptional science fiction writing for feature film, short film, television, radio and interactive media.
Critically acclaimed as an entrancingly strange time-travel saga, Predestination, written by Queensland’s Spierig Brothers Michael and Peter Spierig, claimed the $10,000 cash prize for the Produced category. Predestination centres on a Temporal Agent (Ethan Hawke) who, on his final time-travelling assignment, must stop The Fizzle Bomber, the one criminal that has always managed to elude him, from killing 10,000 New Yorkers.
Predestination is a hard sci-fi that never fails to engage, thrill and entertain. Where some sci-fi films struggle to solidly execute just one core speculative concept, Predestination juggles several - layering concept upon concept while asking and answering big questions about science, humanity and identity.
The dialogue is crackling with wit and intelligence, and the characters are vivid. Predestination is a thoroughly ambitious screenplay in scope, style and in its richness of ideas. All the more Award-worthy when one considers that the writers have woven a dense, complex feature length story from a very short story - something that even the most critical of Robert Heinlein's fans would appreciate. Predestination is the kind of screenplay that the late John Hinde envisioned when he conceived an award that recognises excellence in science fiction screenwriting.
Predestination premiered as the Opening Night feature at the 2014 Melbourne Film Festival and will premiere in the USA as a limited release on 9 January 2015.
Min Min written by South Australian screenwriter, Simon Butters, was selected the inaugural winner of the Unproduced category. Min Min is a story of four carefree travellers who speed across the Nullabor Plain to find the perfect surf break but their night time journey is cut terrifyingly short when they are hunted by a strange, deadly light in the sky - the Min Min.
Min Min is a literal page-turner that commands the reader to absorb it in a single, brisk read. An intriguing sci-fi thriller with a horror edge, Min Min possesses mean, lean big print, vivid characters and the often-elusive quality of credible dialogue. The central mystery hooked the judges in and the scares were honest, well constructed and plentiful. The script skilfully dovetails from horror-thriller to sci-fi and gives the reader a satisfying yet haunting conclusion that will leave you pondering - in a good way.
As winner of the Unproduced category, Simon Butters was a special guest of the Fantastic Planet Sci-Fi Festival and will have the opportunity to meet with and have his script read by a number of experienced genre producers.
The entries to this year’s John Hinde Awards were of exceptional calibre and the judges for the Awards wrestled with their final decision. The Guild would therefore like to attribute special recognition to Hugh Sullivan’s The Infinite Man, a comedy-romance about a man whose attempts to construct the ultimate romantic weekend backfire when he traps his lover in an infinite loop.
The Infinite Man is a produced script that impressed the judges with its unique combination of intelligence and emotion. This is a sci-fi screenplay with a brain and a heart in equal measures. As a time-travel story, it is meticulously planned out and wonderfully executed. As a piece of screenwriting, it is incredibly assured and inventive and, despite being an intricate time-travel storyline, it is remarkably clear and understandable. The characters are also hilarious and our judges found the script a joy to read.
Commendations also go to the Shortlist for the Unproduced category who are now inducted into the AWG’s Pathways Program. Pathways has been developed to showcase the writers of scripts which display high potential for production to the broader industry. Both the Shortlist and the Longlist for the Unproduced category can be found below.
The winners of the 2014 John Hinde Awards was officially announced at the Fantastic Planet Sci-Fi Film Festival on Sunday 30 November 2014 at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony on its closing night. The Fantastic Planet Sci-Fi Film Festival screened simultaneously with the annual A Night of Horror Film Festival in a film festival face-off at the Newtown Dendy Cinemas in Sydney.
To arrange an interview with any of the winners, please contact
 Annabel Davis on 02 9319 0339 or email: annabel@awg.com.au
2014 Shortlist
The Shortlist for the 2014 John Hinde Award for the Unproduced category includes:
2014 Longlist
The Longlist for the 2014 John Hinde Award for the Unproduced category includes:
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