Keith Thompson writer of Clubland has walked away with the 2007 Major AWGIE Award for Outstanding Australian Script of the Year.
The historic 40th Annual Australian Writers’ Guild AWGIE Awards took place on Friday 31st August at Doltone House in Sydney where some of Australia’s most well known and up-and-coming scriptwriters and playwrights were awarded AWGIE Awards across 21 categories in film, TV and theatre.
Judges were torn in the Feature Film Original category and awarded both Keith Thompson’s Clubland and Tony Ayres, for his film festival-favourite The Home Song Stories.
‘The standard was very high all round again this year, so much so that in the Feature Film Original category we were unable to distinguish one winner. The judges strongly felt that both Clubland and The Home Song Stories are wonderfully developed scripts and Tony and Keith equally deserved the recognition’, said AWG President Tim Pye.
Theatre audience favourite and soon-to-be an Australian classic, Holding the Man, written by Tommy Murphy, took out the Stage AWGIE, whilst Campion Decent received the Community and Youth Theatre award, for his stunning verbatim-theatre piece, Embers.
Angela Betzien, who wrote the courageous episodic work, Hoods, received the Theatre for Young Audiences award, as well taking out the inaugural $40,000 Richard Wherrett Prize, Australia’s richest playwriting prize, sponsored by Copyright Agency Limited.
Renowned scriptwriter Katherine Thomson received her seventh AWGIE Award for her Telemovie (Original) script Blackjack: At the Gates. A momentous achievement especially that Katherine’s AWGIEs have been awarded across a variety of media including stage, film and television. Sue Smith’s controversial Bastard Boys, received the Television Mini-Series (Original) AWGIE, for her retelling of the infamous maritime industrial relations dispute.
The AWG welcomed home Marc Rosenberg whose script of December Boys, starring Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe, received the AWGIE Award for Feature Film Adaptation.
The Interactive Media AWGIE has been awarded to Stu Connolly for his outstanding narrative to the online adventure comedy game, Chiko Accidental Alien.
Other television category winners included Home and Away’s Sam Meikle who received the Television Serial AWGIE for the second year running and Tony McNamara the Television Series AWGIE for an episode of Love My Way.
2007 AWGIE AWARDS WINNERS
Long form Monte Miller Award for unproduced script over 30 minutes written by an Associate member
Little Things by Nathan Fielding
Short form Monte Miller for unproduced script under 30 minutes written by an Associate member
Near Syncope by Andrew Slattery
Children’s Television (P Classification)
To Catch a Thief, New McDonald’s Farm by Michael Miller
Children’s Television (C Classification)
Lost in the Desert, Double Trouble (Episode 7) by Danielle MacLean
Children’s Theatre
Kese Solwata (Catch Saltwater) by Therese Collie with Getano Bann, Fiona Elisala, Jeanette Fabila, Ruth Ghee and Tim Mullooly
Theatre for Young Audiences
Hoods by Angela Betzien
Community and Youth Theatre
Embers by Campion Decent
Music Theatre
Electric Lenin by Janis Balodis
Interactive Media
Chiko Accidental Alien by Stu Connolly
Documentary (Public Broadcast)
Constructing Australia: The Bridge by Simon Nasht
Documentary (Corporate & Training)
Shifting Old North Sydney by Sue Castrique
Short Film
Button by Claire Tonkin
Comedy (Situation or Narrative)
Integrity, Stupid, Stupid Man ( Episode 6) by Mark C. Burnett and Tim Pye
Television Original
Call Back (Two Twisted) by Matthew Macknamara
Television Serial
Home and Away (Episode 4212) by Sam Meikle
Television Series
Cold Blooded Creatures, Love My Way (Episode 2, Series 3) by Tony McNamara
Telemovie Original
At The Gates: Blackjack by Katherine Thomson
Television Mini Series Original
Bastard Boys by Sue Smith
Stage
Holding The Man by Tommy Murphy
Feature Film Adaptation
December Boys by Marc Rosenberg
Feature Film Original
The Home Song Stories by Tony Ayres
Clubland by Keith Thompson
Major AWGIE Award
Clubland by Keith Thompson
Richard Wherrett Award
Hoods by Angela Betzien
[release from the Australian Writers’ Guild]