WRITERS' GUILD (GB) AWARDS 2019
-for work done in 2018

WRITERS’ GUILD AWARDS 2019 WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Writers honoured at the 2019 Writers’ Guild Awards on 14 Jan included Russell T Davies, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Heidi Thomas and Mackenzie Crook. The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) announced the winners for outstanding achievement in writing for film, television, radio, theatre, comedy, books and videogames categories at a ceremony at the Royal College of Physicians in London.

The event was hosted by writer and actor Joanna Scanlan. Guests included Jessica Hynes, Charlie Covell, Lisa McGee, Hugo Speer, Armando Iannucci, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and David Schneider. Presenters included Josie Lawrence, Stephen McGann, Peter Bowker, Helen Lederer, Paul Mayhew Archer, Jay Parini, Debbie McAndrew, Doon Mackichan and Sheena Kalayil.

Screenwriter and Playwright Heidi Thomas, known for Call the Midwife, Little Women and Cranford, was presented with the Outstanding Contribution to Writing Award. Heidi received the award from Dame Pippa Harris. She has created the BBC One drama Call The Midwife, based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth. Her writing career began in the mid-1980’s. Her first play was Shamrocks and Crocodiles, followed by Indigo, which was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Heidi has written many adaptions of classics for screen, including the feature film of Dodie Smith's I Capture The Castle, drama series Ballet Shoes, Madame Bovary, Lilies, Cranford, Upstairs, Downstairs and the recent adaptation of Little Women.

This year’s ceremony saw the introduction of a new Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting category, which was won by Tom MacRae for 'Everybody’s Talking about Jamie'. WGGB Theatre Co-Chair Jenifer Toksvig said; “The creation of a book that can be woven together with a score is a unique and complex craft, and one that is often overlooked in favour of the somewhat shinier songs. We are delighted to be acknowledging and celebrating great bookwriting.”

Female writers won 9 of the 16 awards across theatre, TV, radio, comedy, books and videogames categories. WGGB’s 2018 Equality Writes research found that only 16% of working screenwriters in film in the UK are female and the percentage of UK TV episodes which were predominantly female-written was 28%. It was 14% for women writing for prime-time TV, and 11% in comedy. It also reinforces the finding that women’s writing is more commercially and critically successful than average, so the inequalities are not market-driven.

During the ceremony WGGB Chair Gail Renard and WGGB Comedy Co-Chair Dave Cohen paid tribute to television host and leading comedy writer Denis Norden CBE and radio and television scriptwriter Ray Galton, plus other WGGB members who passed away in the last year.

Host Joanna Scanlan said of the event; "It’s an honour to host the Writers’ Guild Awards. The event is a wonderful opportunity to recognise and celebrate the writing talent we have. There have been so many amazing pieces of work across all disciplines and it is thrilling to see new stories from writers established or brand new being celebrated. It is especially encouraging to see women writers scooping a number of the awards for their brilliant and entertaining work, highlighting that it’s about time that there is more equality for women writers.”

WGGB President Olivia Hetreed said; “60 years on from the founding of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain it is thrilling to see that British writing and British writers are in such great shape, with a fantastic array of winners across all disciplines. And in the year of our Equality Writes campaign, highlighting the long term failure to give women writers equal access to film and TV work, it’s impressive to see so many female winners in all categories as well as to celebrate the success of Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas for her Outstanding Contribution to Writing.”

The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is the lead sponsor of the 2019 Writers’ Guild Awards. Other sponsors are: BBC, ITV, Company Pictures, Nick Hern Books and Silver Reel.

A full list of winners is shown below.
(....information supplied by Charlie Wainwright; many thanks.)

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WGGB AWARDS 2019: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) is delighted to announce the shortlist for its annual awards, to be presented by writer and actor Joanna Scanlan on Monday 14 January 2019 at the Royal College of Physicians in central London, in a special ceremony to mark the union’s 60th anniversary.

This year’s shortlist sees the addition of a new category – Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting.

WGGB President Olivia Hetreed said:
“It feels wonderfully appropriate to kick off the Writers' Guild’s 60th year with a celebration of today's great writers and great writing. Our nomination list displays the originality, inventiveness and dedication of British writers, their willingness to tackle big issues and explore unusual viewpoints whilst offering great entertainment.”

The shortlist in 15 categories is shown below:

In addition, a special award for outstanding contribution to writing is presented at the ceremony each year.

SHORTLISTS

Best Radio Drama
All of the Beauty In The World: The B Towns (Eve Steele);
Idle Hands (Christine Entwisle);
Stone, Episode 7 (Alex Ganley)

Best Radio Comedy
Ability (Lee Ridley and Katherine Jakeways);
Deadline (Jessica Hynes);
Sarah Kendall: Australian Trilogy, Volume 2, Part 1, 'Seventy-Three Seconds' (Sarah Kendall)

Best Long Form TV Drama
Killing Eve, Episode 5, ‘I Have a Thing About Bathrooms’ (Phoebe Waller-Bridge);
The End of the F***ing World, Episode 3 (Charlie Covell);
Trust, Episode 9, 'White Car in a Snowstorm' (Alice Nutter)

Best Short Form TV Drama
A Very English Scandal (Russell T Davies);
Mother’s Day (Nick Leather);
Ordeal by Innocence (Sarah Phelps)

Best Long Running TV Serie
Casualty, Series 32, Episode 44 (Barbara Machin);
Coronation Street, Episode 9451/2 (Jonathan Harvey);
Hollyoaks, Episode 4889 (Roanne Bardsley)

Best TV Situation Comedy
Derry Girls (Lisa McGee);
Inside No. 9, ‘Zanzibar’ (Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith);
Detectorists (Mackenzie Crook)

Best Children’s TV Episode
Creeped Out, ‘Cat Food’ (Bede Blake and Robert Butler);
Dennis and Gnasher: Unleashed, ‘Night of the Living Veg’ (Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Barnett Jones);
Free Rein, Episode 207, ‘Bob’ (Vicki Lutas and Anna McCleery)

Best Writing in a Video Game
FIFA 19 The Journey: Champions (Matt Turner, Tom Watt and Martin Korda);
Reigns: Her Majesty (Leigh Alexander);
The Spectrum Retreat (Giles Armstrong and Dan Smith)

Best Screenplay
American Animals (Bart Layton);
The Death of Stalin (Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin, Peter Fellows, Fabien Nury);
The Little Stranger (Lucinda Coxon and Sarah Waters)

Best First Screenplay
Apostasy (Daniel Kokotajlo);
I Am Not A Witch (Rungano Nyoni);
The Happy Prince (Rupert Everett)

Best Play
Black Men Walking (Testament);
Gut (Frances Poet); Jellyfish (Ben Weatherill)

Best Play for Young Audiences
Beginners (Tim Crouch);
The Changing Room (Chris Bush);
The Vultures' Song (Mike Kenny)

Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting
Everybody's Talking About Jamie (Tom MacRae);
Miss Littlewood (Sam Kenyon);
Pieces of String (Gus Gowland)

Best First Novel
In Our Mad and Furious City (Guy Gunaratne);
The Gods of Love (Nicola Mostyn); White Chrysanthemum (Mary Lynn Bracht)

Best Online Comedy
Spokke (Tim Grewcock and Shaun Lowthian);
Three Cool Days (Arnab Chanda and Chris Hayward);
Where Are You From? The Game (Hannah George and Tasha Dhanraj)

Sponsors
The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is the lead sponsor of the Writers’ Guild Awards this year. Our other sponsors are the  BBC, ITV, Company Pictures, Nick Hern Books and Silver Reel.

information supplied by Sarah Woodley, Writers' Guild - many thanks.

ND

PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE RADIO DRAMA/COMEDY AWARDS:

BEST RADIO DRAMA
2018 Stone, Episode 7, by Alex Ganley
2017 The Things We Never Said, by Ming Ho
2016 Fat Little Thing by Lucy Gannon
2015 Quill by Tony Jones
2014 A Night Visitor, by Stephanie Jacob
2013 Tennyson and Edison, by David Pownall
2012 Pandemic, by John Dryden (Indie, Goldhawk)
2011 Troll, by Ed Harris

BEST RADIO COMEDY
2018 Sarah Kendall: Australian Trilogy 'Seventy-Three Seconds' by Sarah Kendall
2017 Sarah Kendall: Australian Trilogy ‘A Day In October’ by Sarah Kendall
2016 Double Acts – Series 1, Episode 5, “English for Pony Lovers” by John Finnemore
2015 White Rolls The Dice, by Deborah Frances.
2014 The Brig Society, by Marcus Brigstocke
2013 Susan Calman Is Convicted, by Susan Calman
2012 I, Regress, by Matt Berry
2011 Cabin Pressure, by John Finnemore

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