Writers of The Code, Ali’s Wedding, Jasper Jones, Barracuda and Please Like Me among winners at the 49th Annual AWGIE Awards
15 October, 2016
Friday 14 October 2016
Shelley Birse, one of Australia’s leading screenwriters, has won this year’s top writing award at the Australian Writers’ Guild’s 49th Annual AWGIE Awards, for the second season of the ABC’s cyber-thriller,
The Code.
The Code also received the AWGIE Award for the Television: Miniseries – Original category. The first season of
The Code took out the Major Award in 2014, and this year’s award makes it the only series in history to have been recognised by two Major Awards for both of its seasons.More than 25 Australian writers have been honoured at this year’s Australian Writers’ Guild AWGIE Awards which were hosted by
The Chaser’s
Julian Morrow at the Ivy Ballroom in Sydney on Friday night, 14 October 2016.President of the Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG),
Jan Sardi, said that at a time when television is experiencing a global renaissance on an epic scale the Annual AWGIE Awards are a way of honouring the world-class talent of Australian screenwriters and playwrights.‘With the advent of streaming services such as Netflix and Stan revolutionising the way we all consume screen content, there is an undeniable buzz and energy around our film and TV industries in particular.‘This heralds exciting times ahead for not only Australian writers for performance, but for the millions of viewers hungry for top-notch content on their screens and stages,’ he said.Twenty-two AWGIE Awards were awarded across categories covering the full spectrum of performance writing in radio, television, film, theatre and interactive media. Two awards were given for unproduced screenplays, and five special awards were awarded.Among the 2016 AWGIE Award winners were:
- Andrew Knight and Osamah Sami, writers of the acclaimed Ali’s Wedding, for most outstanding script for an Original Feature Film, and
- Shaun Grant and Craig Silvey of Jasper Jones, who received the AWGIE Award for the most outstanding script for a Feature Film Adaptation.
Within the television categories, AWGIE Award winners included:
- Samantha Strauss for her original telemovie, Mary: The Making of a Princess
- Barracuda’s Blake Ayshford and Belinda Chayko for the Television Miniseries – Adaption category
- Josh Thomas and Liz Doran for Please Like Me in the Comedy – Situation or Narrative category
- Leah Purcell’s Ready for This: ‘The Birthday Party’ took out the Children’s Television – C Classification category, and
- Andrew Knight scored a second AWGIE Award for his work on Rake.
Winners in the theatre categories included
Lally Katz for
The Rabbits in the Music Theatre category,
A Kid Like Me writers
Sally Hardy and
Alirio Zavarce won the Community and Youth Theatre AWGIE Award and Angus Cerini took out the Stage category for The Bleeding Tree, in what was a tight field.
Barry Humphries, one of Australia’s most well-known writers, comedians, actors and satirists, has been presented with the 2016
Fred Parsons Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Comedy. Humphries was honoured in recognition of the invaluable contribution he has made to Australian and international comedy writing over a career that has spanned more than 60 years.The $60,000
David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre was this year presented to
Angus Cerini for
The Bleeding Tree, which has just been announced for inclusion in the Sydney Theatre Company’s 2017 program.The AWG also honoured
Craig Pearce – co-writer of
Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge, Charlie St Cloud and
The Great Gatsby – by awarding him the Australian Writers’ Guild
Lifetime Achievement Award, which was proudly presented by Foxtel.For 49 years, the Australian Writers’ Guild has presented the AWGIE Awards to recognise and reward excellence in performance writing.In the years since their inception, the list of AWGIE winners have included writers whose stories have shaped Australian culture. The AWGIE Awards are the only writers’ awards judged solely by writers, based on the written script – the writer’s intention rather than the finished product.More than 440 entries were received this year, drawn from 79 different nominated works and projects in 23 different award categories.For the full list of AWGIE winners click
here.For the full list of AWGIE nominees click
here.
For all media enquiries and interview requests with any of the AWGIE Award recipients, please contact:NIX Co | Nicholas Cheetham | Communications Manager | + 61 2 8399 0626
