Press release from AWG
The Australian Writers’ Foundation (AWF) has announced that they are now accepting nominations for the prestigious $25,000 Foxtel Fellowship: Rewarding Excellence with Creative Freedom.
The esteemed award reflects the AWF’s recognition that television writing can make a significant contribution to the Australian cultural landscape .
The annual fellowship rewards excellence and achievement in television and performance writing more generally and will be awarded to a writer who has created a body of work that is impressive in its craft, scope and impact. The fellowship is made possible due to generous sponsorship from Foxtel.
Its intention is to provide the recipient with the creative freedom to develop a television project on a subject of his or her own choosing.
The 2008 Foxtel Fellowship was presented to John Alsop, known for his work on Australia’s most loved television including the unforgettable serials The Restless Years, Sons and Daughters and The Flying Doctors, the cult-classic The D-Generation and timeless TV dramas such as Brides of Christ, The Leaving of Liverpool, My Brother Jack and RAN – Remote Area Nurse.
John says that the Foxtel Fellowship gave him an ideal opportunity to reflect on the lost world of his adolescence.
“Relieved of the normal pressures of keeping the wolf from the door, I was able to imaginatively piece together an alternative life for my parents. The life they might have had if they’d taken a different fork in the road. Whatever lies ahead for the script, the financial and artistic freedom afforded by the award made writing this project a wholly happy experience.”
Applications for the Fellowship close 12 June 2009 with the Fellow to be announced at the 42nd Annual AWGIE Awards in Sydney on 28 August 2008.