Emerging Writers’ Awards: 2025 Winners announced

The Australian Writers’ Guild congratulates screenwriters Mads McRae and Georgia Struckel, who have been announced as the winners of the 2025 Emerging Writers’ Awards. The Awards were announced tonight to a packed room of senior writers, producers, industry folk and Guild members, who spent the evening mixing with the talented cohort of winning and shortlisted writers.  Mads McRae won the Long Form Award for her feature film Grave’s End. Following…

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Winning Writers announced in 2025 John Hinde Award

The Australian Writers’ Guild congratulates screenwriters Jesse Laurie and Charlie Milne, who have been announced as the winners of the 2025 John Hinde Award. Jesse Laurie took home the award in the produced category for his sci-fi feature Zero, a gripping drama in which a wounded astronaut grapples with disorientation, a dwindling air supply, and his inner demons.  The judges described Zero as “a skillfully crafted feature film which…

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2025 Emerging Writers’ Awards shortlist announced

A shortlist of eight outstanding writers has been chosen from hundreds of entries in the 2025 Emerging Writers’ Awards  Eight emerging writers and their exciting unproduced projects have been shortlisted for the 2025 Emerging Writers’ Awards. Represented on the shortlist are gripping feature films, dramatic and comedic television pilots and a nail-biting short thriller. These eight…

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Nine scripts and their writers shortlisted for the 2025 John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science Fiction Writing 

Congratulations to the nine sci-fi writers who have been shortlisted from hundreds of entrants in the 2025 John Hinde Award. The shortlist – which covers entries across the produced and unproduced categories – includes seven feature films and two episodes of children’s television series Rock Island Mysteries.  The winning writers will be announced at an industry…

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Australian Screen Industry urges Productivity Commission to crack down on theft of creative works for AI

The theft of thousands of creative workers’ intellectual property by AI companies is unacceptable, say creatives of the Australian screen industry, urging the Government to come down hard on the ongoing and widespread use of stolen and uncompensated work by AI developers. Responding to the Productivity Commission’s consultation on policy reform, the Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG), Australian Writers’ Guild Authorship Collecting…

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Writers’ entitlement to superannuation

Writers who are engaged by production companies to write scripts are entitled to superannuation under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (Cth) (the Act).  Section 12(3) of the Act states that if a person works under a contract that is “wholly or principally for the labour of the person” then that person is an employee of the other…

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Applications open for The Creators program

Screen Australia and the Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG) have announced applications are open for The Creators program. Now in its third year, The Creators is a career acceleration program for high-calibre, mid-career screenwriters to build toward the creation of their own shows.  Expanding upon the success of Years 1 and 2, Year 3 sees The Creators evolve to…

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Selected participants for Seeding Storytellers announced

Screenworks and the Australian Writers’ Guild have today announced the selected participants of Seeding Storytellers with 17 emerging First Nations screenwriters selected for the program which will guide them to become note-takers in a writers’ room. The selected participants are Annidette Puni (Sydney, NSW), Angelina Hurley (Brisbane, QLD), Aria Kitchener (Tweed Heads, NSW), Barbara Hostalek (Perth, WA), Colleen…

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New Professional Development Opportunity for Emerging Writers in WA

The Australian Writers’ Guild is excited to announce In the Writers’ Room, a unique professional development workshop designed to give early career screenwriters in WA an insight into how a professional writers’ room operates. From the basics of what a writers’ room is and does through to the less obvious topic of etiquette in a room, it will give…

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2025 John Hinde Award for Sci-Fi writing opens for entries

The John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction Writing was established to encourage, reward and foster creativity in the development and showcasing of Australian science-fiction writing for film, television, web series and interactive media. Funded by a bequest from the late Australian film critic John Hinde, the winning writers will share in a $10,000 prize pool. There are two…

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