The spirit of Perseverance: Entries open for Australia’s richest sci-fi screenwriting award

28 July, 2020

On Thursday evening, just as most of us are settling in for the night, a lone Mars rover will launch from Earth on a months-long mission to the Red Planet. Its job? To seek signs of ancient life on the dusty plains that have captured our imagination for eons. Its name? Perseverance.

It's a fitting title in 2020, a year that has at times felt like a science-fiction movie, unknown and uncertain, but has also been filled with moments of hope, determination and humanity. It is a year that has seen people all over the world turn to stories to help us persevere, binging the latest dramas and gathering around our TVs for movie nights, reminding us that even in the darkest of times stories are a constant source of light. 
 
So, in the spirit of storytelling and Perseverance, the 2020 John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction Writing opens for entries, seeking those writers whose work pushes the boundaries of our imagination, exploring the terrible, the exhilarating, and all the shades in-between.

The richest science-fiction screenwriting award in Australia, the John Hinde Award offers $10,000 for the best produced script of the previous year, and professional support for the best unproduced script of 2020. It is open to all AWG members, including Full, Associate, and Student members. 

As 2020 continues to be a tumultuous time for all, we are waiving the entry fee for all members wishing to enter the John Hinde Award. 

Entries open Tuesday 28 July 2020, and close Friday 28 August 2020.
For more information and to enter, download the information kit and guidelines HERE.

Funded by a bequest from the late Australian film critic John Hinde, the John Hinde Award is the richest science-fiction screenwriting award in Australia, offering $10,000 for the best produced script and professional support for the best unproduced script.

Past winners in the produced category include Lucas Taylor's AWGIE Award-winning multilinear narrative experience Eleven Eleven in 2019, the late Cris Jones' feature The Death and Life of Otto Bloom in 2017, Episode Five of the acclaimed Indigenous series Cleverman by Michael Miller in 2016, and Jesse O’Brien's feature film Arrowhead in 2015.

In the unproduced category, 2017 winner C.S. McMullen’sThe Other Lamb was on the Black List, Hit List and Blood List as one of Hollywood’s best unproduced scripts and in 2019 had its premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. Georgina Love continues to develop her John Hinde Award-winning script Pig, and in 2018 was awarded a scholarship by Final Draft to attend the Rocaberti Writers retreat in the south of France, and won the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship. Last year's winner Steve Mitchell has been inducted onto AWG’s Pathways Showcase, receiving professional development support to further his script.