The musical adaptation of My Brilliant Career, one of Australia’s most iconic stories, has taken home the richest annual playwriting award in the country, winning the prestigious $120,000 David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre at the AWGIE Awards.
It was the second win on the night for writers Sheridan Harbridge, Dean Bryant and Mathew Frank, who also received the AWGIE Award for best script in Music Theatre.
The Correspondent, Peter Duncan’s powerful retelling of journalist Peter Greste’s story, won in the Feature Film – Adapted category, while Natalie Erika James’ horror feature Saccharine triumphed in Feature Film – Original. Lorin Clarke’s exploration of her comedy-icon father’s life in Not Only Fred Dagg But Also John Clarke won the Documentary – Public Broadcast or Exhibition prize.
In the Stage – Original category, Angus Cerini was acknowledged for Into the Shimmering World, while Vanessa Bates was awarded the Stage – Adapted prize for her reimagining of fairytales’ most marginalised women in The Magic Hour.
In the theatre and audio categories, Jeremy Nguyen with Hiroki Kobayashi and Hoa Pham won Theatre for Young Audiences for The Story of Chi, while Community Theatre went to Lliane Clarke with Aunty Cheryl Penrith OAM and Voices of Women for Women of the Riverina. Greg Haddrick won Audio – Fiction for Central Intelligence, and Marc Fennell and Emma Weatherill won Audio – Non-Fiction for This Is Not A Game.
For television, Samantha Strauss, Angela Betzien and Anya Beyersdorf picked up the Limited Series Award for Apple Cider Vinegar and Allan Clarke won Television Series for Episode 7 of Invisible Boys. Colin From Accounts was recognised with a second AWGIE Award, with Patrick Brammall winning Comedy – Situation or Narrative.
The first ever AWGIE Award for Comedy – Stand-Up went to Bronwyn Kuss for Pillows xxxx, Nicolette Minster, Aleisha McCormack and Rhys Nicholsontook home the AWGIE for Comedy – Sketch and Light Entertainment for The Weekly: ‘Rhysearch’, while Samantha Cable won the Interactive Media & Gaming category with Copycat.
Emma Gordonwon Children’s Television – C Classification for Spooky Files: Season 2 (FOMO Sojo Casa House), Charlotte Rose Hamlyn won the AWGIE for Kangaroo Beach: Season 3 (Hungry The Seagull) in the Children’s Television – P Classification category.
There were two winners in the Television – Serial category: Gary Sewell was awarded for Episode 6522 of Hollyoaks, while Fiona Kelly picked up the prize for Episode 8330 of Home and Away, while Brendan Wan and Jeremy Teh with Aran Thangaratnam and Vivian Nguyenwon the AWGIE for Short Film with Asian Male Lead.
In the Web Series category, the award went to Charlotte George and Miriam Glaser for Buried, while the Animation category went to Michael Greaney for DeadBeat Ends Meet: ‘Invasive (Quest)ions’.
Five Australian Writers’ Guild members were honoured with Life Membership in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the Guild and the industry: Geoffrey Atherden, Anne Brooksbank, Michael Harvey, Shane Porteous and Roger Simpson.
For more information about the 58th Annual AWGIE Awards and the full list of winners, visit: www.awg.com.au for details.
Image: Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of My Brilliant Career – photo by Pia Johnson