Congratulations to the ten playwrights who have been shortlisted for the Australian Writers’ Guild’s prestigious Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize for Playwriting. The prize was launched in 2021 to celebrate and reward outstanding achievements in new Australian playwriting. $10,000 is awarded to the winner of each category, with a further $40,000 to be shared evenly among shortlisted writers, made possible by the generous and ongoing philanthropy of Shane and Cathryn Brennan.
The ten shortlisted scripts were narrowed down over several careful and considered rounds of judging across two categories: Stage and Theatre for Young Audiences. These projects are now available for producers to explore on AWG’s Pathways for Playwrights page, where they join a curated collection of projects by Australia’s best and emerging playwrights.
The AWG staff and judging panels offer our warm congratulations to the ten shortlisted writers on their outstanding scripts. We also wish to sincerely thank all writers who entered these awards. It is a pleasure and a privilege to read your work.
The winning projects will be announced on Tuesday 3 November 2026.
2026 SHORTLIST
STAGE CATEGORY
1996 by Dasun Abeygoonawardana
A warm, nostalgic coming-of-age about two Australian teenagers, the cricket World Cup, and what it means to share a heritage but not a history.
It’s Like That Time Your Sister Handcuffed You To The Stairway And Then Went To School by Josh Billig
It’s Like That Time Your Sister Handcuffed You to the Stairway and then Went to School explores the way that life can trap us in a moment. Across seven scenes, each leaping a decade, the play follows you and your sister through a lifetime of joy and sorrow, your choices and their consequences, all in pursuit of the answer to the question, ‘What does it mean to be here?’
Cecelia by Alexander Duncan
A brother and sister return to their childhood home after their mother’s death, but find themselves hiding from the next door neighbour, Cecelia. She’s somehow included herself in the will, keeps popping over with pies that cause visions, and seems to be making mushrooms to grow inside the house – prompting the siblings’ childhood suspicion that she’s a witch to resurface.
Hungry Johannes by Jamie Garner
A fat gay thirtysomething tries to diet his way into romantic success, but instead meets a mediaeval cannibalistic witch. A [fucked-up] fable of famine, fat, and food, inspired by Hansel and Gretel.
Wansolwara by Wendy Mocke
At the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant, five beauty queens are moments away from the crowning and one backhanded compliment away from homicide. With the whole Pacific watching, what breaks first: The queens? The host spiralling towards a mental breakdown? Or the mystery buzzing nobody can switch off?
THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES CATEGORY
Lure by Ryanna Clayton
Nerida convinces her friends to borrow (not steal) the school boat to win a blokes-only fishing comp. But the ancient Sirens who lure them out to sea have other ideas.
Girl Running Boy Falling by Kate Gaul, adapted from Kate Gordon’s novel.
Tiger has her feet on the ground. She’s running through high school, but someone she loves is about to fall.
The Game Changer by Donna Hughes
When a relentless chatterbox, hell bent on making friends, lands in a country town and blunders into the backyard of the most feared recluse, he uncovers close-held secrets that will change everything for his archenemy at school, a talented tomboy footballer, a girl who is on the brink of falling through the cracks.
The Racket by Michael Louis Kennedy
When the administration of St Marcia’s restricts the sale of the highly coveted and sugary lolly “Clouds” to their senior students, in the interest of protecting the junior’s teeth, two industrious Juniors, Francesca and Lucas devise a racket to secretly procure the lollies and sell them to their classmates at a markup. However, as demand grows, more students are recruited to the racket, and as their thirst for power grows, their scheme threatens to unravel.
Life is Swift by Ciella Williams
When Frankie and her best friend get sucked through a portal into Taylor Swift’s Version of the Universe, Frankie must convince her friend to stay in this increasingly twisted utopia, or lose everything.
