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The Australian Writers’ Guild announces the nominees for the 45th AWGIE awards
The nominees this year reflect the abundance of high quality scriptwriters Australia has produced. The AWGIE Awards are the only Australian scriptwriting awards judged solely by writers on the basis of the script.The first AWGIES in 1968 included only five categories whereas today we have over 30 categories, ensuring that every performance writing discipline is catered for. In the output of this year’s nominees we can see a tilt toward re-telling those Australian stories which have become central parts of our history.Stories from the dramatisations of Mabo, Beaconsfield and The Sapphires to the darker side of our larrikin culture in Underbelly and Katherine Thomson’s historical recreation Australia on Trial: The Mount Rennie Outrage. Australia’s best screenplays this year show we haven’t lost our ability to laugh at ourselves, with fierce competition in the comedy category with Marieke Hardy’s Laid 2 and Agony Uncles. The sought-after AWGIE award for Stage includes many inspiring Australian playwrights that we should be seeing more of in major theatres around the country. Lally Katz with Neighbourhood Watch is nominated with Vanessa Bates’ Porn.Cake, Lachlan Philpott’s Silent Disco, Alex Broun’s 10,000 Beers and Ron Elisha’s Man in the Middle. The feature film adaptation category this year has two very strong contenders - Judy Morris’ The Eye of the Storm, starring Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davies, and The Sapphires from Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs. The story of four young, talented Aboriginal girls who entertain US troops in Vietnam as part of a girl group, premiered at the 2012 Cannes FilmFestivalearlier this year. Michael Lucas’ star continues to rise as he has been nominated for his first original feature film Not Suitable for Children, currently showing nationally with Ryan Kwanten as the lead. The other strong nominees are Last Dance by Terence Hammond and David Pulbrook andthe emotionally charged drama Wish You Were Here, written by Kieran Darcy-Smith and Felicity Price andstarring Joel Edgerton.Michael Lucas has also been nominated for the television series Offspring. Also nominated in the series categoryare three scripts from the popular Spirited series, written by Alice Bell, Ian Meadow and Jacquelin Perske. In television, the gripping adaptation by the team of writers behind The Slap is up against Underbelly: Razor in the television mini-series category. Peter Gawler will be hoping for his ninth AWGIE award this year as part of the Underbelly team. Susan Smith has been nominated for the powerful original telemovie Mabo along with Judi McCrossin for Beaconsfield, the dramatic rescue of trapped miners that engrossed the nation. The comedy categories include the controversial series about our Prime Minister At Home with Juliawhich nominated with last year’s category winner Marieke Hardy for Laid 2 and the husband and wife team Amanda Brotchie and Adam Zwar, along with Trudy Hellier, for Lowdown. The Good News Week writing team has been nominated for their ninth AWGIE award with new series Agony Uncles, by Adam Zwarthe frank series about love and relationships from the perspective of Aussie blokes. Prolific writer and multiple award winner Katherine Thomson is up for her tenth AWGIE award for Australia On Trial: The Mount Rennie Outrage in the documentary public broadcast category. Other prizes to be announced on the night include the major AWGIE award for most outstanding script of 2012, the $25,000 FOXTEL Fellowship for excellence in television writing, the $30,000 Kit Denton Disfellowship, the $15,000 John Hinde Award for Science Fiction and the Monte Miller Awards for unproduced scripts. The AWGIE Awards will be held at Doltone House in Sydney on Friday 24 August 2012. The full list of nominations is listed below. NOMINEES FOR THE 2012 AWGIE AWARDS
TELEMOVIE ORIGINAL
TELEVISION MINI-SERIES - ADAPTATION TELEVISION MINI-SERIES - ORIGINAL Only one nomination and the winner will be announced on the night. TELEVISION - SERIES
Spirited: If You See Her Say Hello – Alice Bell TELEVISION - SERIAL
Home & Away 5437- Louise Bowes COMEDY - SKETCH OR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
Good News Week: State Of The Nation – Dave Bloustien, Simon Dodd, Bruce Griffiths, Paul Livingston, Warwick Holt, Mat Blackwell and Ian Simmons COMEDY – SITUATION OR NARRATIVE
Lowdown: One Fine Gay - Amanda Brotchie, Adam Zwar with Trudy Hellier FEATURE FILM - ORIGINAL
Wish You Were Here - Kieran Darcy-Smith and Felicity Price FEATURE FILM - ADAPTATION
The Eye Of The Storm - Judy Morris SHORT FILM
Rarer Monsters - Shayne Armstrong and S P Krause
RADIO – ORIGINAL BROADCAST
RADIO - ADAPTATION INTERACTIVE MEDIA Only one nomination and the winner will be announced on the night.
ANIMATION
DOCUMENTARY - PUBLIC BROADCAST DOCUMENTARY - CORPORATE AND TRAINING
Living The Values - Charles Hamlyn-Harris COMMUNITY AND YOUTH THEATRE
The Sadness Of Mister Saisson - Chris Thompson STAGE
Porn.Cake- Vanessa Bates
CHILDREN’S THEATRE
CHILDREN’S TELEVISION - P CLASSIFICATION CHILDREN’S TELEVISION - C CLASSIFICATION
Dance Academy: A Good Life - Roger Monk & Samantha Strauss
MONTE MILLER AWARD – LONG FORM MONTE MILLER AWARD – SHORT FORM
Safia's Statue- Philip Enchelmaier |