21 August 2025 – The David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Australian Theatre Writing has increased in 2025 to become the richest annual playwriting award in the country. The winning playwright will now receive $40,000, with a further $80,000 awarded to the theatre company who staged the winning work, taking the total prize to $120,000.
The David Williamson Prize is awarded by the Australian Writers’ Guild each year to the most outstanding script selected from the winners of each of the theatre categories at the annual AWGIE Awards.
The express purpose of the fund is to champion the work of Australian playwrights and encourage theatre companies to commission, develop and program new Australian work.
The David Williamson Prize is comprised of:
(i) a $40,000 prize awarded to the playwright of the most outstanding theatre script of the given year; and
(ii) an $80,000 grant awarded to the theatre company which staged the winning theatre script, for the purposes of commissioning, developing and staging a new Australian work.
Presented since 2013, the David Williamson Prize is made possible by the generous donation of David and Kristin Williamson and Shane and Cathryn Brennan.
Playwrights with works that premiered in 2024 are encouraged to enter the 58th Annual AWGIE Awards, open for entries now until Thursday 18 September.
Eligible theatre categories include: Stage Original, Stage Adaptation, Community Theatre, Theatre for Young Audiences and Music Theatre.
- Find out more and enter the 58th Annual AWGIE Awards HERE.
- Find out more about the David Williamson Prize HERE.
- Read the 2025 David Williamson Prize guidelines HERE.
Previous recipients of the David Williamson Prize 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 & Keir Nuttall for Muriel’s Wedding the Musical (2018), Kate Mulvany for The Harp in the South (2019), Suzie Miller for Prima Facie (2020), Ellen Graham and Jamie Hornsby for Claire Della and the Moon (2021), Maxine Mellor for Horizon (2022), Dylan Van Den Berg for Whitefella Yella Tree (2023) and Blake Erickson and Jay James Moody (book) and Laura Murphy (music and lyrics) for The Dismissal: An Extremely Serious Musical Comedy.
New works commissioned, developed and staged with support from the David Williamson Prize include Packer and Sons (2019) by Tommy Murphy, Wonnangatta (2020) by Angus Cerini, Playing Beatie Bow (2021) by Kate Mulvany, Jailbaby (2023) by Suzie Miller, Big Yikes! (2024) by Madeleine Border and Starweaver (2024) by Ellen Graham and Jamie Hornsby.
