The nominees for this year's AWGIE awards include the scribes behind local films such as The Sapphires, The Eye of the Storm, Wish You Were Here and TV programs such as Mabo, Beaconsfield, and Underbelly.
Battling in the feature film adaptation category will be Judy Morris’ The Eye of the Storm, starring Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davies, and The Sapphires from Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs. Michael Lucas has also been nominated for his first original feature, Not Suitable for Children while Last Dance by Terence Hammond and David Pulbrook and drama Wish You Were Here, written by Kieran Darcy-Smith and Felicity Price, have also been nominated.
Among television nominees, the team of writers behind The Slap and Underbelly: Razor have been nominated as well as Susan Smith for indigenous telemovie Mabo, and Judi McCrossin for Beaconsfield. Michael Lucas was also nominated for the television series Offspring while three scripts from the Spirited series (written by Alice Bell, Ian Meadow and Jacquelin Perske) were also nominated in the series category.
The comedy categories include the team behind At Home with Julia which is up against last year’s category winner, Marieke Hardy for Laid 2 and the Amanda Brotchie, Adam Zwar, and Trudy Hellier, for Lowdown. Zwar's new series Agony Uncles was also nominated.
The Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG) awards are judged solely on the quality of the script and cover 30 categories. AWG president and Academy Award-nominee Jan Sardi said the AWGIE awards are a unique opportunity to celebrate the writers whose stories have shaped our national culture.
“This rich crop of writers is a sure sign Australia can match it with the best from anywhere in the world when it comes to performance writing, and that's something to celebrate in this, the 50-year anniversary of the guild,” he said in a statement.
The AWGIE Awards will be held at Sydney's Doltone House on August 24. Other prizes to be announced on the night include the major AWGIE award for most outstanding script of 2012, the $25,000 FOXTEL Fellowship for excellence in television writing, the $30,000 Kit Denton Disfellowship, the $15,000 John Hinde Award for Science Fiction and the Monte Miller Awards for unproduced scripts.
FULL LIST OF NOMINEES FOR THE 2012 AWGIE AWARDS
TELEMOVIE ORIGINAL
Beaconsfield – Judi McCrossin
Mabo – Susan Smith
TELEVISION MINI-SERIES – ADAPTATION
The Slap – Emily Ballou, Alice Bell, Brendan Cowell, Kris Mrksa with Cate Shortland
Underbelly: Razor – Peter Gawler, Michaeley O’Brien, Felicity Packard and Jeffrey Truman
TELEVISION MINI-SERIES – ORIGINAL
Only one nomination and the winner will be announced on the night.
TELEVISION – SERIES
Spirited: If You See Her Say Hello – Alice Bell
Offspring: Episode 206 – Michael Lucas
Spirited: Living In Oblivion – Ian Meadows
Spirited: I'll Close My Eyes – Jacquelin Perske
TELEVISION – SERIAL
Home & Away 5437- Louise Bowes
Home & Away 5391 – Fiona Bozic
Neighbours 6231 (Jim's Death) – Pete McTighe
COMEDY – SKETCH OR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
Good News Week: State Of The Nation – Dave Bloustien, Simon Dodd, Bruce Griffiths, Paul Livingston, Warwick Holt, Mat Blackwell and Ian Simmons
How Green Was My Cactus – Doug Edwards, Lindy Wilson and Shane Edwards
Agony Uncles: Episode 1 – Adam Zwar
COMEDY – SITUATION OR NARRATIVE
Lowdown: One Fine Gay – Amanda Brotchie, Adam Zwar with Trudy Hellier
Laid 2: Episode 3 – Marieke Hardy
At Home With Julia: Date Night – Rick Kalowski, Phil Lloyd with Amanda Bishop
At Home With Julia: The Leaker – Rick Kalowski, Phil Lloyd with Amanda Bishop
FEATURE FILM – ORIGINAL
Wish You Were Here – Kieran Darcy-Smith and Felicity Price
Last Dance – Terence Hammond and David Pulbrook
Not Suitable For Children – Michael Lucas
FEATURE FILM – ADAPTATION
The Eye Of The Storm – Judy Morris
The Sapphires – Keith Thompson and Tony Briggs
SHORT FILM
Rarer Monsters – Shayne Armstrong and S P Krause
The Wilding – Grant Scicluna
RADIO – ORIGINAL BROADCAST
Paper Moon – Clementine Bendle-Thompson
Random Red – Noëlle Janaczewska
Grinning At The Lid – Paul Livingston
RADIO – ADAPTATION
Only one nomination and the winner will be announced on the night.
INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Only one nomination and the winner will be announced on the night.
ANIMATION
FLEA-BITTEN!: Bugs In Black – Ray Boseley
FLEA-BITTEN!: Home Truths – Ray Boseley
The Woodlies: Stormin’ The Fortress – Rob George
DOCUMENTARY – PUBLIC BROADCAST
The Curse Of The Gothic Symphony – Anthony Mullins with Randall Wood
All The Way – Anne Delaney with Paul Ham & Toby Cresswell
Australia On Trial: The Mount Rennie Outrage – Katherine Thomson
DOCUMENTARY – CORPORATE AND TRAINING
Living The Values – Charles Hamlyn-Harris
Q400 Main Landing Gear Wheel Changing – Charles Hamlyn-Harris
La Trobe University For Year 12 Students – Amanda Kerley
COMMUNITY AND YOUTH THEATRE
The Sadness Of Mister Saisson – Chris Thompson
Behind The Cane- Margery Forde and Michael Forde
The Boy With The Longest Shadow – Finegan Kruckemeyer
Cyberbile – Alana Valentine
STAGE
Porn.Cake – Vanessa Bates
10,000 Beers – Alex Broun
Man In The Middle – Ron Elisha
Neighbourhood Watch – Lally Katz
Silent Disco – Lachlan Philpott
CHILDREN’S THEATRE
Love – Finegan Kruckemeyer
This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing – Finegan Kruckemeyer
Snow On Mars – Richard Tulloch with Kim Carpenter and Gale Edwards
CHILDREN’S TELEVISION – P CLASSIFICATION
Guess How Much I Love You: Favourite Thing – David Evans
Guess How Much I Love You: Follow Me – David Evans
Bananas In Pyjamas: The Snowman – Kevin Nemeth
Guess How Much I Love You: Snowflake – Jane Schneider
CHILDREN’S TELEVISION – C CLASSIFICATION
Dance Academy: A Good Life – Roger Monk & Samantha Strauss
Dance Academy: The Prix de Fonteyn – Samantha Strauss
Dance Academy: The Second – Samantha Strauss
MONTE MILLER AWARD – LONG FORM
Lola – Pauline Findlay
Ashes – Michael Jones
The Box – Claire Phillips
Clinton Black's Class For The Modern Liar – Simon Proud
Boys In The Trees – Nicholas Verso
MONTE MILLER AWARD – SHORT FORM
Safia's Statue – Philip Enchelmaier
The Beekeeper – Will Goodfellow
Love Hurts – Nigel Karikari
The Ravens – Jennifer Perrott
Heatherdale – Duncan Richards
No Answers in a Gun – Kenneth Wallace