by FilmInk Staff
MEMOIR OF A SNAIL, FAKE, THE DISMISSAL MUSICAL, AMONG WINNERS AT THE AUSTRALIAN WRITERS’ GUILD AWARDS
A musical satirising the 1975 constitutional crisis has taken home top honours at the Australian Writers’ Guild’s annual AWGIE Awards, with The Dismissal: An Extremely Serious Musical Comedy winning the prestigious $100,000 David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre.
It was the second win on the night for writers Blake Erickson and Jay James-Moody (book) and Laura Murphy (music and lyrics), who also received the AWGIE Award for best script in Musical Theatre.
Academy Award-winner Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail won in the Animation category, while Becca Johnstone’s debut feature Addition triumphed in Feature Film – Adapted. Charles Williams’ prison drama Inside took home the Award for Feature Film – Original.
In the Stage – Adapted category, Verity Laughton was acknowledged for her adaptation of The Dictionary of Lost Words, while Hilary Bell was awarded the Stage – Original prize for her comedy triptych Summer of Harold.
In television, Anya Beyersdorf, Jessica Tuckwell and Hyun Lee picked up the Limited Series Award for Fake and Adrian Chiarella won Television Series for Episode 5 of Erotic Stories.
AWG President Peter Mattessi celebrated the cohort of writers, saying: ‘This year’s winners and nominees are all outstanding storytellers, who have created compelling work and reached vast audiences both at home and around the world. Congratulations to all of you.’
Other AWGIE Award winners:
- Liam Esler, David Gaider, Karly Taylor, Tripod and Montaigne won the Interactive Media & Gaming category with Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical,
- Former Major AWGIE Award winners Frances Elliott and Samantha Marlowe took home a third AWGIE Award, winning the Documentary – Public Broadcast or Exhibition category for Renee Gracie: Fireproof,
- The Documentary – Community, Educational and Training AWGIE Award went to Peter Mattessi and Mark O’Toole with Matt Willis for What Is AWGACS?,
- Rob Hunter took home the AWGIE for Comedy – Sketch and Light Entertainment for The Weekly: The Week in TV with Margaret Pomeranz,
- Dave Cartel won Children’s Television – C Classification for Rock Island Mysteries: Season 2, ‘Secrets in the Ice,
- Amy Stewart won the AWGIE for Beep and Mort: Season 2, ‘Friends at First Snow’ in the Children’s Television – P Classification category,
- Peter Mattessi won the Television – Serial category for Episode 6705 of EastEnders
- Melanie Easton won the AWGIE for Short Film with Dragon’s Breath, and
- The Web Series category went to Jon Rex Williams for KingsLand.
In the theatre and audio categories:
- Mary Rachel Brown won Theatre for Young Audiences for Rosieville,
- Community and Youth Theatre went to Madelaine Nunn for SAAM,
- Meegan May won Audio – Fiction for Compromised: ‘The Tourist’, and
- Marc Fennell and Pallavi Kottamasu won Audio – Non-Fiction for House of Skulls.
Award winners were announced at the 57th Annual AWGIE Awards on Thursday 13 February 2025 at the Parade Theatre, NIDA in Sydney.
Awards were presented across 23 categories, including feature film, television, documentary, theatre, interactive and gaming, audio, animation and children’s television.
For the full list of AWGIE winners, click here. For the full list of AWGIE nominees, click here.
The 57th Annual AWGIE Awards are made possible with the generous support of our sponsors, in particular our Gold Sponsors: Screenrights, AWGACS, Netflix and NIDA.
