New Playwriting Award
A canny initiative to encourage theatre companies to commission and program new Australian work was announced today (February 19, 2007) by the Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG).
Called the Richard Wherrett Prize, the annual award is for excellence in playwriting and backed by the AWG, with the support of the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) Cultural Fund.
As a director and promoter of theatre talent for more than 40 years, Richard Wherrett was a significant figure in modern Australian theatre until his untimely death in 2001. The prize was launched in the rehearsal studio at the Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay, that also bears his name.
The strategic importance of this award - the richest in Australia for playwriting - is that the prize money will be split evenly between the winning writer and the theatre company which first produced the play in Australia. The intention is clear: to encourage and reward those companies that show commitment to new Australian works.
To be eligible for the Richard Wherrett Prize, a playwright must be a financial member of the AWG at the time the script is submitted for entry. The script must be nominated for a 2007 AWGIE Award in the Stage; Community and Youth Theatre; Theatre for Young Audiences or Children’s Theatre categories and must have been produced between January 1 and December 31, 2006.
“Winning Australian playwrights and theatre companies will be able continue their valuable but often poorly rewarded work in a fitting tribute to the life and work of a great Australian theatre practitioner,” said AWG president, Simon Hopkinson. (The writer will also receive a gold medallion as a keepsake.)
The inaugural Richard Wherrett Prize will be presented at the 40th Annual AWGIE Awards in Sydney on August 31, 2007.
