Political thriller The Code took the major AWGIE award as well as the trophy for best original miniseries at the Australian Writers’ Guild awards on Friday night.
The six-hour series, which premieres on ABC on September 21, is written by Blake Ayshford, Shelley Birse and Justin Monjo and produced by Playmaker Media. The major AWGIE recognises the best of the night's winners across stage, screen, new media and radio.
The feature film award went to Adelaide writer Matthew Cormack for his first debut feature 52 Tuesdays, the gender-bending drama hailed as “bold and structurally adventurous.”
Winner of the best documentary prize was Sally McKenzie for A Woman’s Journey Into Sex.
Andrew Knight was rewarded for his script for Essential Media and Entertainment’s telemovie The Broken Shore, adapted from the Peter Temple novel. Writer/director Peter Duncan won best TV series script for Essential’s Rake.
Niki Aken and Felicity Packard took the award for best adapted miniseries for Screentime’s ANZAC Girls and Stephen Vagg’s Neighbors script was best serial.
Writers on ABC programs dominated the TV categories with wins for episodes of The Moodys, Wednesday Night Fever, Hoopla Doopla! and Nowhere Boys.
Katherine Thomson and Andrew Bovell each won $25,000 for the Australian Writers Foundation Fellowship and the David Williamson Prize respectively. Bovell’s prize was for the most outstanding play of the year, The Secret River.
Sue Smith received a $15,000 Australian Writers Foundation Fellowship to further her recent move into theatre.
Everett DeRoche was posthumously awarded the Dorothy Crawford Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. DeRoche began his career with Crawford Productions writing classics such as Homicide, Division Four and Matlock Police before making his name with Ozploitation thrillers Patrick, Roadgames, Long Weekend and Razorback.
Andrew Denton collected the Fred Parsons Award for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Comedy.
The Hector Crawford Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Craft via a Body of Script Editing Work went to dramaturg Peter Matheson.
The Richard Lane Award for Outstanding Service and Dedication to the AWG was presented to Jon Stephens and Bruce Pulsford.
The Foxtel Fellowship, which rewards a writer with an impressive and significant body of work in TV, went to Kelly Lefever, whose extensive credits include Prisoner, Neighbours, Something in the Air, Home and Away and The Circuit.
RECIPIENTS AT 47th ANNUAL AWGIE AWARDS
Monte Miller – Long Form
Vanished
Alexei Mizin and Ryan van Dijk
Monte Miller – Short Form
Paradise
Anya Beyersdorf
Children’s Television – P
Hoopla Doopla! ‘Snow Business’
Kym Goldsworthy
Children’s Television – C
Nowhere Boys: Episode 3
Craig Irvin
Children’s Theatre
The Grumpiest Boy in the World
Finegan Kruckemeyer
Animation
Get Ace: ‘Ace Gets Braced’
Raymond Boseley
Community and Youth Theatre
Comin’ Home Soon
Alana Valentine
Theatre for Young Audiences (Joint winners)
Storm Boy
Tom Holloway
The Violent Outburst That Drew Me To You
Finegan Kruckemeyer
Theatre – Stage
The Secret River
Andrew Bovell
Interactive Media
AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS
Christy Dena
Radio – Original Broadcast
My Life in Cookbooks
Noëlle Janaczewska
Documentary – Public Broadcast
A Woman’s Journey Into Sex
Sally McKenzie
Documentary – Corporate and Training
Indigenous Cultural Awareness
Charles Hamlyn-Harris
Short Film
Baby Baby
Billie Pleffer
Comedy – Sketch or Light Entertainment
Wednesday Night Fever: Series 1
Mat Blackwell, Rick Kalowski, Steve Lynch, Sammy J, Ian Simmons, Joel Slack-Smith and Stephen Walsh with Anne Edmonds, Heath Franklin and Richard Thorp
Comedy – Situation or Narrative
The Moodys: ‘Australia Day’
Phil Lloyd and Trent O’Donnell
Television – Serial
Neighbours: Episode 6857
Stephen Vagg
Television – Series
Rake: Series 3 ‘Their Lordships v. Finnane’
Peter Duncan
Television Mini Series – Original
The Code
Blake Ayshford, Shelley Birse and Justin Monjo
Television Mini Series – Adaptation
ANZAC Girls
Niki Aken and Felicity Packard
Telemovie – Adaptation
The Broken Shore
Andrew Knight
Feature Film – Original
52 Tuesdays
Matthew Cormack
Major AWGIE
The Code
Blake Ayshford, Shelley Birse and Justin Monjo
SPECIAL AWARDS
DOROTHY CRAWFORD AWARD
For Outstanding Contribution to the Profession
Everett DeRoche
RICHARD LANE AWARD
For Outstanding Service and Dedication to the Australian Writers’ Guild
Jon Stephens & Bruce Pulsford
FRED PARSONS AWARD
For Outstanding Contribution to Australian Comedy
Andrew Denton
HECTOR CRAWFORD AWARD
For Outstanding Contribution to the Craft via a Body of Script Editing Work
Peter Matheson
FOXTEL FELLOWSHIP
In Recognition of a Outstanding and Significant Body of Work in Television
Kelly Lefever
DAVID WILLIAMSON PRIZE
In Celebration and Recognition of Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre
Andrew Bovell
AUSTRALIAN WRITERS FOUNDATION PLAYWRIGHTS FELLOWSHIP
Sue Smith
Katherine Thomson