AWGIE Awards
AWGIE Awards Judging Information
Jan 18, 2008, 8:30am

AWGIE AWARDS JUDGING

The AWGIE Awards are the Australian Writers' Guild's annual awards for excellence in screen, television, stage and radio writing.

Presented annually since 1967, the AWGIES are the only Australian writing awards judged solely by writers. Awards and nominations are judged only on the written script.

In order to be eligible, scripts must have been produced in the calendar year prior to the year of the particular AWGIE Award ceremony. So, for example, the 2006 AWGIE Award for Best Original Screenplay was given for a screenplay produced during the calendar year 2005.

Judging Philosophy and Principles
Like other awards, the judging of the AWGIES involves comparing scripts in a particular category against each other, to determine nominees and a winner. However, unlike some other awards, the standard on which AWGIES are judged is one of general excellence, and not just relative quality of the scripts submitted in a particular category in a particular year.

A script is said to be eligible for an AWGIE Nomination in a category only if, in the opinion of that category's judging panel, the script would be a worthy recipient of an AWGIE Award.

On occasion, that may mean that no nominees are named, and no Award is given, in a particular category in a particular year even though scripts have been entered in that category. It may also mean that, in a particular year, only one script is nominated in a particular category, and is declared the winner of that category.

(The situation where no nominations are given in a category triggers an automatic rejudging of that category by a new panel: see below for "Categories with no Nominations").

Judging Personnel
On average, each year over 50 AWG members are involved in the AWGIE judging process. All judges are current AWG Full financial members and receive no payment for their contribution. All judges have produced writing credits in the relevant category and where possible are previous award nominees or winners.

All judges sign a confidentiality agreement, agreeing not to disclose either that they are judging, or any information concerning scripts entered or any aspect of the judging process. They also agree to disclose any conflict of interest arising from them serving as a judge.

The various AWGIE Award judging roles are:

1. National Judging Co-ordinator - responsible for overseeing all aspects of the AWGIE judging for the relevant year. They deal directly with State Co-ordinators and AWGIES Co-ordinator and answer queries regarding entry, eligibility and categories. They are not directly involved in the judging (reading) of entries and remain an independent party during the judging process.

2. State Co-Ordinators - responsible for all aspects of the AWGIE judging in their state for the relevant year and reporting to the National Judging Co-Ordinator. The State Co-ordinators find and appoint appropriate judges, distribute scripts, chair meetings, liaise with the National Judging Co-ordinator and relay nomination/winner results to the national office. State Co-ordinators are generally not involved in judging (reading) entries, except where sufficient other qualified judges cannot be found for a category, and the Co-ordinator is qualified to judge the category.

3. Judges - responsible for judging category entries. Each category is judged by a panel of 3 judges, appointed by the State Co-Ordinator responsible for the particular category. All judges are Full AWG members with produced credits in the relevant discipline and where possible, are previous award nominees or winners. Each judge reads every entry in the category. Judges cannot have entered the category they are judging in the year they are judging, but may have entered work in another category.

4. AWGIEs Co-Ordinator - AWG staff member responsible for liaising with National Judging Co-ordinator, State Co-Ordinators and for all AWGIE judging administration. Not involved in the judging (reading) of entries.

AWGIE Committees
The AWG has two AWGIE committees responsible for advising on the policy and direction of the AWGIE Awards.

1. AWGIEs Committee - The committee reports directly to the AWG National Executive Committee on issues arising from the awards, the judging process and any concerns raised by members. The committee also regularly reviews the AWGIE conditions of entries, number of categories and the judging process.

2. Awards Night Organising Committee - The organising committee is responsible for the organisation of the Awards evening. The committee advise on all aspects of the evening including venue, food, entertainment, theme and design. The committee is formed yearly, and normally comprises members from the state the awards are being held in.

State By State Judging of Categories
Each year, particular States are made responsible for co-ordinating the judging of particular award categories. The judges for that category are relevantly qualified writers but they may not necessarily be based in the State responsible for co-ordinating that award category - coordinators are instructed to just find the best judging panel, no matter which state the judges live in. The AWG rotates the categories judged by each State, as decided by the National Judging Co-ordinator, the AWGIES Committee and the AWG Executive Director.

Entries
All entries received are checked for their eligibility, including the writer's AWG financial status and the script's date of production. All writers' names are removed from the scripts by the State Co-ordinators or AWGIEs Co-Ordinator. Scripts are photocopied without the writers' names and sent to the relevant category Judges.

Categories with No Nominations
When a category receives no nomination, all entries for the category are re-judged by a new judging panel consisting of 3 new judges. If the "no nomination" decision is upheld, the category in question does not receive a nomination.

Major Award
Individual category winners each year become eligible for the Major Award. The Major Award is awarded to the outstanding script of that year. A panel of 3 judges is chosen to judge the Major Award. Each judge reads all the winning entries. The judges of this Award are highly experienced writers with previous AWGIEs judging experience and are very often themselves past AWGIE winners or nominees. Generally, they will not have served as judges in other categories in the year that they judge the Major Award.

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