The Australian Writers’ Guild congratulates playwright Anna Lyon and screenwriter Patrick George, who have been announced as the winners of the 2026 Emerging Writers’ Awards.
The Awards were announced tonight to a packed room of senior writers, producers, industry folk and Guild members, who spent the evening mixing with the talented cohort of winning and shortlisted writers.
Playwright Anna Lyon took home the Long Form award for her play Gravida Five, a tragicomedy in which a doctor presents her five pregnancies as a clinical case, using humour to impose order on loss – until her narrative begins to slip.
“We were all incredibly impressed by this riotously funny, harrowing and heartrending monologue play about a doctor struggling with her own fertility. With its richly realised characters, emotional honesty and viscerality, this play made us laugh, wince and cry in equal measure. It unfurls with an elegant structure and sticks the landing with a devastating penultimate twist,” said the judging panel.
Marcus Khoudair and Veniamin Gialouris‘ feature film Adonia was highly commended in the Long Form category.
Patrick George received the Short Form Award for his comedy adventure series Countrymen: ‘The year is 58 BC. General Julius Caesar wages constant war in an ambitious campaign to expand the glory and wealth of Rome. A campaign that could be disrupted by one idiot.’
The judging panel described Countrymen as delivering a fresh genre mix with a modern sense of humour. “Written with great wit and pace, the script deftly handles its setting, multiple characters and historical action sequences. Episode one was a fun ride from start to finish and set the scene for an entertaining, emotionally engaging TV series.“
Television pilots I‘m Just Here to Make Friends by Diane Vu and Poles by Millie Pitcher were highly commended as runner-ups in the Short Form category.
Winners Lyon and George will now share in $10,000 in script development funding, generously provided by Scripted Ink as part of its ongoing commitment to supporting the growth of Australian writers and commercially viable projects.
The Emerging Writers’ Awards are an Australian Writers’ Guild tradition going back to the 1970s. Each year they recognise excellence in screenwriting and playwriting among the Guild’s Associate and Student members, celebrating the exciting future of Australian storytelling.
The winning and shortlisted projects are now available to view on AWG’s prestigious Pathways Showcase, joining an outstanding collection of projects available for development.
The Emerging Writers’ Awards will open for entries again in 2027.
SHORT FORM CATEGORY
Winner
Countrymen by Patrick George [Television]
The year is 58 BC. General Julius Caesar wages constant war on the Celtic tribes of Gaul in an effort to expand the glory and wealth of Rome. A Rome that would become his empire.
Highly Commended
I’m Just Here to Make Friends by Diane Vu [Television]
A charming social predator adopts a naive doormat as her new project, but as their friendship intensifies, secrets bubble to the surface, and it’s unclear who’s the predator… and who’s the project.
Poles by Millie Pitcher [Television]
Reeling from a break-up with her bff-turned-girlfriend, a directionless and mildly self-obsessed young woman snowploughs through her 20s while working as a stripper.
Shortlist
Flow Lands by Rebecca Ingram [Television]
When Australian detective Callie Fern finds a woman’s body in northern Scotland, the land itself tells her it was murder — and warns her another is coming.
What’s Between Your Legs by Kylie Aoibheann [Short Film]
While recovering from gender-affirming surgery, a sexually frustrated trans woman gets one of her dilators trapped in her new vagina.
LONG FORM CATEGORY
Winner
Gravida Five by Anna Lyon [Theatre]
A doctor presents her five pregnancies as a clinical case, using humour to impose order on loss – until her narrative begins to slip.
Highly Commended
Adonia by Marcus Khoudair and Veniamin Gialouris [Feature Film]
A solitary young man befriends his steroid dealer and discovers an audience online for their bodybuilding—but the more he chases fame, the further he drifts from his friends, family, and mortal reality.
Shortlist
Bad Taste by Jason Reed [Feature Film]
A struggling comedian discovers that he gets funnier when he accidentally ingests a piece of a promising young comic—now he has to decide how much he wants fame and what he’s willing to swallow.
Esperance by Robert Frantzeskos and Thomas Moody [Feature Film]
On the desolate and lawless frontier of the 19th century gold rush, two Irish miners are embroiled in a daring heist to avoid ruin. Together they must risk everything to escape both the law, and the harrowing, mythic vengeance that pursues them.
Mu-mma by Courtney Cavallaro [Theatre]
On a sweltering Christmas Day, a mother and her lesbian daughter fight to salvage both the roast and their bond — confronting love, legacy, and what it means to be a “real mother”
My Sister, The Wind by Ranima Montes [Feature Film]
Days before immigrating overseas, a duty-bound woman must smuggle her sister’s exhumed bones for her impulsive mother, uncovering a secret that threatens the future she’s promised her pregnant daughter.
Phenomenon by Charlie Clausen [Television]
Amid a media frenzy, an ambitious journalist attempts to salvage his failing career by exposing a supposed haunting in Darwin, but his pursuit of the truth reveals the danger lies not in the unknown, but in humanity’s ruthless exploitation of one another.
