AWGIE Awards

The AWGIE awards were conceived in 1967, with the first event being held in 1968.{{cite web | title=AWGIE Awards | website=AustLit | url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/v28 | access-date=21 December 2023}} Bettina Gorton the wife of prime minister John Gorton was guest of honour at the event held at the Wentworth Hotel in Sydney on 22 March 1968,{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56655197 |title=Social roundabout |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly |volume=35 |issue=43 |date=27 March 1968 |access-date=22 December 2023 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}} Also in attendance was Sir Robert Madgwick, chairman of the ABC. There were 250 guests in attendance, only 35 of whom were AWG members.{{cite web | title=Australian Writers' Guild | website=about us | date=2 May 1962 | url=https://awg.com.au/about-us | access-date=21 December 2023}} Note: This source appears to list the year of the first awards

The AWGIES awards ceremony has become a prominent industry event, and has featured many well-known guests of honour and speakers in the past, including: Manning Clark; Ken Hall; Fred Schepisi; Tom Keneally; Gough Whitlam; Paul Keating; and Roy and HG.{{cite web| url=http://www.awg.com.au/artman/publish/article_43.shtml| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20021219024316/http://www.awg.com.au/artman/publish/article_43.shtml| archive-date= 19 December 2002| title= About the AWGIE Awards| website= Australian Writers' Guild}}

It was held in Melbourne for some years,{{cite web| url=http://www.awg.com.au/artman/publish/cat_index_17.shtml| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050211102312/http://www.awg.com.au/artman/publish/cat_index_17.shtml | archive-date= 11 Feb 2005 | title= AWGIE Awards| website= Australian Writers' Guild}}

The 56th Annual AWGIE Awards event is being held on 15 February 2024 at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney.{{cite web | title=56th Annual AWGIE Awards Student Tix | website=Australian Writers' Guild | url=https://awg.com.au/awgiesforstudents | access-date=22 December 2023}} In most categories, the awards are given for works for which principal photography, production, or recording was completed in the 2022 calendar year. Stage productions must have had their first professional production in this year, while interactive media or gaming must have been commercially released in this year.{{cite web| url=https://awg.com.au/Media/documents/The%2056th%20Annual%20Awgie%20Awards%20Categories%20And%20Conditions%20Of%20Entry%20-%20FINAL.pdf| title= The 56th Annual Awgie Awards – Categories and conditions of entry| publisher= Australian Writers' Guild| access-date= 22 December 2023}}

The awards are given annually at an awards event by the AWG for excellence in screen, television, stage, and radio writing.

There is a large number of categories, as well as some special awards and industry fellowships. The awards are given specifically for the writing of the scripts and not the finished product.

The Major AWGIE Award is awarded to the outstanding script of that year across all categories.

As of 2024 (56th Annual AWGIE Awards), the award categories are:

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}

• Feature film
• Original
• Adaptation

• Short Film

• Documentary
• Public Broadcast (including VOD) or Exhibition
• Community, Educational and Training

• Television Drama (Includes VOD)
• Serial
• Series
• Limited Series or Telemovie

• Children's Television
• Pre-school (under 5 years)
• Children's (5–14 years)

• Comedy (any medium)
• Situation or Narrative
• Sketch or Light Entertainment

• Audio ("All scripted radio and podcast works...")
• Fiction
• Non-Fiction

• Theatre
• Stage – Original
• Stage – Adapted
• Community and Youth Theatre
• Theatre for Young Audiences
• Music Theatre

• Interactive Media & Gaming

• Animation

• Web series

{{div col end}}

{{for|the John Hinde and Monte Miller awards|Australian Writers' Guild#Awards}}

The David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre,{{cite web|url=https://awg.com.au/files/documents/FULL%20LIST%20OF%20WINNERS%20FOR%20THE%2055th%20ANNUAL%20AWGIE%20AWARDS.pdf| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303114510/https://awg.com.au/files/documents/FULL%20LIST%20OF%20WINNERS%20FOR%20THE%2055th%20ANNUAL%20AWGIE%20AWARDS.pdf| archive-date= 3 March 2023| publisher=Australian Writers' Guild |title= Full List of Winners for the 55th Annual AWGIE Awards|date=2023}} named after playwright David Williamson, was established in 2013. The annual prize is sponsored by David and Kristin Williamson, and Shane and Cathryn Brennan, and awarded "to the most outstanding script selected from the winners of each of the theatre categories at the AWGIE Awards". The purpose of the fund is "to encourage theatre companies to commission, develop and program a new Australian work".{{cite web | title=David Williamson Prize-supported play Jailbaby announced for Griffin's 2023 season|date=19 September 2022 | website=Australian Writers' Guild | url=https://awg.com.au/News-Details?newsId=868&title=David-Williamson-Prize-supported-play-Jailbaby-announced-for-Griffin-s-2023-season | access-date=22 December 2023}} From 2017, the value of the prize was increased to {{AUD|100,000}}, with $20,000 awarded to the playwright, and $80,000 to the theatre company that commissioned and staged the prizewinning play, "when they commission and program a new work by an Australian playwright within the following 12 months".{{cite web | title=$100K for Australian theatre: David Williamson Prize set to become one of Australia’s richest literary awards | website=FilmInk | date=24 August 2017 | url=https://www.filmink.com.au/public-notice/100k-australian-theatre-david-williamson-prize-set-become-one-australias-richest-literary-awards/ | access-date=23 December 2023}}

Winners include:

• Alana Valentine for Grounded (2013)
• Andrew Bovell for The Secret River (2014)
• Finegan Kruckemeyer for The Boy at the Edge of Everything (2015)
• Angus Cerini for The Bleeding Tree (2016)
• Leah Purcell for The Drover's Wife (2017)
• P.J. Hogan with Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall for Muriel's Wedding the Musical (2018)
• Kate Mulvany for her stage adaptation of the Ruth Park novel The Harp in the South (2019)
• Suzie Miller for Prima Facie (2020){{cite web | title=Suzie Miller awarded prestigious David Williamson Prize at the AWGIES | website=NIDA | date=2 March 2023 | url=https://www.nida.edu.au/news/suzie-miller-awarded-prestigious-david-williamson-prize-at-the-awgies | access-date=23 December 2023}}
• Ellen Graham and Jamie Hornsby for Claire Della the Moon (2021)
• Maxine Mellor, for Horizon, with $80 000 going to Playlab Theatre in Brisbane{{cite web | title=Playlab Theatre Shares David Williamson Prize 2022 | website=Stage Whispers | url=https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/news/playlab-theatre-shares-david-williamson-prize-2022 | access-date=23 December 2023}}

{{as of|2023}}:

• Dorothy Crawford Award – for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession and the Industry (1984–) (after Dorothy Crawford)
• Hector Crawford Award – for Outstanding Contribution to the Craft as a Script Producer, Editor or Dramaturg (1991-) (after Hector Crawford; not awarded every year)
• Fred Parsons Award – for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Comedy(1988-){{efn|Fred Parsons (1908-1987) was an English-born script writer, stage director, and author; for some years writer for Frank Neil's Tivoli Circuit Australia;{{cite web | title=Practitioners [P-Q] | website=Australian Variety Theatre Archive | date=27 April 2011 | url=https://ozvta.com/practitioners-p-q/ | access-date=23 December 2023}}{{cite web | title=Fred Parsons | website=AustLit | url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A75424 | access-date=23 December 2023}} friend of Graham Kennedy; subject of an episode of This Is Your Life{{cite web| url= https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/your-life-fred-parsons|title= This Is Your Life - Fred Parsons |website = NFSA|access-date=23 December 2023}}}}
• Australian Writers' Guild Life Membership

• Richard Lane Award (1988–2019),{{cite web | title=The Richard Lane Award | website=AustLit | url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/v1060 | access-date=23 December 2023}} for an outstanding contribution to the AWG (after Richard Lane (1918–2008), who received the inaugural award{{cite web| url=http://www.austlit.edu.au/news/newsJuneJuly2008|title= AustLit News June/July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519043140/http://www.austlit.edu.au/news/newsJuneJuly2008| archive-date=19 May 2011|date=2008}})
• Kit Denton Fellowship – For Courage and Excellence in Performance Writing (2007–2012)
• Ian Reed Award for Best Script by a First-Time Radio Writer (1998 and 2000 only )
• Foxtel Fellowship - In Recognition of a Significant and Impressive Body of Work (2007–2013; recipients included Mac Gudgeon, Susan Smith, Kristen Dunphy, Jacquelin Perske); Foxtel Fellowship - In Recognition of an Outstanding and Significant Body of Work in Television (2014, final one){{cite web| url=https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awgau/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/30130252/2014-AWGIES-Special-Awards-List-1973-2014.pdf|title= AWGIE special awards 1973-2015| publisher=AWG| access-date=23 December 2023}}
• Richard Wherrett Prize – Recognising Excellence in Australian Playwriting (selected from the winners from all theatre categories, 2007 & 2009 only)
• CAL Peer Recognition Prize, awarded to the winner of the Major AWGIE Award (2008–2010 only)
• Lifetime Achievement Award (2015: Laura Jones;{{cite web | title=Laura Jones to receive the inaugural AWG Lifetime Achievement Award | website=IF Magazine | date=22 February 2016 | url=https://if.com.au/laura-jones-to-receive-the-inaugural-awg-lifetime-achievement-award/ | access-date=23 December 2023}} 2016: Craig Pearce;{{cite web | title=Craig Pearce | website=Pathways | date=7 December 2020 | url=https://www.awgpathways.com.au/writer/craig-pearce/ | access-date=23 December 2023}} 2017: Andrew Knight;{{cite web | title=AWG honours Andrew Knight with lifetime achievement award | website=IF Magazine | date=11 August 2017 | url=https://if.com.au/awg-honours-andrew-knight-lifetime-achievement-award/ | access-date=23 December 2023}} 2018: Sue Smith{{cite web | title=More than words: dialogue-free animated short film Lost & Found takes home AWG's Major Award for writing | website=Australian Writers' Guild | url=https://awg.com.au/News-Details?newsId=517&title=More-than-words-dialogue-free-animated-short-film-Lost-Found-takes-home-AWG-s-Major-Award-for-writing | access-date=23 December 2023}})
• Australian Writers Foundation Playwrights Fellowship (2014: Katherine Thomson and Sue Smith{{cite web | title=47th ANNUAL AWGIE AWARDS WINNERS | website=Stage Whispers | date=5 September 2014 | url=https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/stage-briefs/47th-annual-awgie-awards-winners | access-date=23 December 2023}})

• Richard Lane, who won four AWGIES
• Cliff Green - Medal of the Order of Australia (June 2009)
• Geoffrey Atherden - Member of the Order Of Australia (Jan 2009)
• Nick Pearce - The Forgotten City - First video game mod to have received a screenwriters award{{Cite news|url=https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/10/an-australian-skyrim-mod-has-won-a-screenwriting-award/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018181742/http://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/10/an-australian-skyrim-mod-has-won-a-screenwriting-award/|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 October 2016|title=An Australian Skyrim Mod Has Won A Screenwriting Award|date=2016-10-17|work=Kotaku Australia|access-date=2018-02-13|language=en}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.australiantelevision.net/awards/awgie1997.html Australian Writers' Guild Awards, 1997–2016] on Australian Television Information Archive

Category:Australian literary awards

Category:Australian film awards

Category:Awards established in 1968