AWGIE Award Winners: Special tributes to Sue Smith and Tony Ayres

A dialogue-free animated short film about a knitted toy dinosaur who must completely unravel himself to save the love of his life has taken out the highest honour of the Australian Writers’ Guild’s annual AWGIE Awards, the 2018 Major Award.

Bradley Slabe’s Lost & Found was first awarded the AWGIE for the Animation category before going on to win the Major, which is selected from the winners of each of the 18 AWGIE Award categories.

The 51st Annual AWGIE Awards were presented at the City Recital Hall in Sydney last night.

Saving Mr. Banks, Mabo and Brides of Christ screenwriter Sue Smith was the recipient of the 2018 Australian Writers’ Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the most prestigious honours in the industry, in recognition of the enduring mark her work has made on the Australian cultural landscape.

Matchbox Pictures co-founder Tony Ayres was awarded the Hector Crawford Award. The award-winning writer, director and producer recently launched Tony Ayres Productions to specialise in high-end scripted drama and feature films for both Australian and international audiences.

2018 also saw a number of indigenous writers winning categories, including Steven McGregor with David Tranter for Sweet Country (Feature Film – Original) and Erica Glynn for her episode Where’s Aaron? of Little J and Big Cuz (Children’s P Classification).

The 2018 winners included:

FEATURE FILM – ORIGINAL
Sweet Country – Steven McGregor with David Tranter

FEATURE FILM – ADAPTATION
Cargo – Yolanda Ramke

SHORT FILM
I Fucked a Mermaid and No One Believes Me – Joel Perlgut

TELEVISION – SERIAL
Neighbours: Episode 7776 – Peter Mattessi

TELEVISION – SERIES OR MINISERIES OF MORE THAN 4 HOURS’ DURATION, INCLUDING ORIGINAL AND ADAPTED WORKS
Mystery Road: Gone – Michaeley O’Brien

TELEVISION – TELEMOVIE OR MINISERIES OF 4 HOURS OR LESS DURATION, INCLUDING ORIGINAL AND ADAPTED WORKS
Sunshine – Matt Cameron and Elise McCredie

CHILDREN’S TELEVISION – ‘P’ CLASSIFICATION (PRESCHOOL – UNDER 5 YEARS), ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED, ANIMATED OR PERFORMED
Little J and Big Cuz: Where’s Aaron? – Erica Glynn

CHILDREN’S TELEVISION – ‘C’ CLASSIFICATION (CHILDREN’S – 5–14 YEARS), ORIGINAL OR ADAPTED, ANIMATED OR PERFORMED
Mustangs FC: Flawless – Magda Wozniak

COMEDY – SITUATION OR NARRATIVE
Get Krack!n: Episode 7 – Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan

RADIO
Seoul City Sue – Noëlle Janaczewska

STAGE
Rice – Michele Lee

MUSIC THEATRE
Muriel’s Wedding the Musical – PJ Hogan with Kate Miller-Heidke & Keir Nuttall (lyrics) and Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Stig Anderson (lyrics)

ANIMATION
Lost & Found – Bradley Slabe

WEB SERIES
Homecoming Queens: Beach – Michelle Law and Chloë Reeson

MAJOR AWARD
Lost & Found – Bradley Slabe

DAVID WILLIAMSON PRIZE
For Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre
Muriel’s Wedding the Musical – PJ Hogan with Kate Miller-Heidke & Keir Nuttall (lyrics) and Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Stig Anderson (lyrics)

HECTOR CRAWFORD AWARD
For Outstanding Contribution to the craft as a script producer, editor or dramaturg
Tony Ayres

AUSTRALIAN WRITERS’ GUILD LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Proudly presented by Foxtel
Sue Smith

--

Top Photo: Luke Ceila