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NEW - Flinders University Young Theatremakers' Award

We’re thrilled to announce a new chapter in our education partnership with Flinders University.

In 2023, we’re introducing the Flinders University Young Theatremakers’ Award. This new pilot program, presented in association with Drama SA, links young high school theatremakers to professional industry resources and mentorship, culminating in a public performance at the Matthew Flinders Theatre, Flinders University on 20 October 2023.

The program aims to celebrate students’ creative work, allow opportunity for students and teachers to receive feedback from industry professionals, and engage students in Tertiary Arts spaces, encouraging them into Performing Arts tertiary study and careers.

Schools will be invited to register their interest for the program early next year.

For more information and to keep up to date with the program, join the Education mailing list.

The new program has been developed based on participant feedback, in consultation with students, educators and industry professionals, and will replace the existing Flinders University Young Playwrights’ Award. We are exploring alternative ways to provide valuable resources and guidance to young playwrights in 2024 and beyond. Should you have any questions, please contact education@statetheatrecompany.com.au.

Flinders University Young Playwrights' Award Archive

  • Senior Award (ages 18-25) Winner:

    Artifice Factory by Taylor Fernandez

    Taylor Fernandez (she/her) is an English, Philosophy and Media student at the University of Adelaide. She is a former editor of On Dit and the co-founder of fashion publication Fresher Mag. Taylor currently sits on the Board of the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild and is Vice President of their Student Society.

    Senior ‘Merit’ Award: Tiny Church by Chloe Zodrow

    Chloe is an emerging actor, playwright, and director, who graduated in the 2021 class of Adelaide College of the Arts.

    Junior Award (ages 13-17) Winner: 

    The Girl in The Painting by Rida Zainab

    Rida Zainab is a Senior Student at Saint Aloysius College. Rida is from Quetta, Pakistan and moved to Sydney in 2011 and then South Australia in 2017. She has always loved narratives, books, and writing because it allowed her to deliver messages behind her stories. This was Rida’s first time writing a play.

  • Modified by Ren Williams

    Ren Williams’ Modified is based on her experiences as a young woman grappling with the system she has grown up in. Set over the course of one life-changing night, besties Rain and Helix are forced to confront themselves, their friendship and… the patriarchy.

    About the playwright:

    Recent 2020 Honours Graduate at the Flinders University Drama Centre; Ren
    Williams (she/her) is an Actor, Writer, Director and Film-maker creating work on
    Kaurna Yerta.Ren’s film-making has won multiple awards over the last four years at the Adelaide 48 Hour Film Project; her 2018 film ‘Andii’ winning Best Film, taking it to Filmapalooza in Orlando Florida. This has led to Ren co-founding her new film
    company ‘Error Squared Productions’ which has recently released their 2021 film
    ‘INGÉNUE’, winning her the title of this years Best Actress at the 48HFP.

    In August, Ren is looking forward to working with Under the Microscope with their
    interactive theatre development of ‘Guthrak’ and with Kinetik Collective’s
    development for ‘Kill Climate Deniers’ by David Finnigan, which will be shown later
    in 2022.

    Making her Stage Directing debut in November 2021, Ren is thrilled to be directing
    Deadset Theatre Company’s production of Lachlan Philpott’s ‘Truck Stop’.
    Ren is a proud member of MEAA and RUMPUS.

  • Junior Category:

    Winner: Chi Runs by William Harris
    Commendation Award: Beach Wood Café by Mackenzie Richardson
    Special Mention: Piled Questions by Amelia Cartwright.

    Senior Category:

    Winner: Coldhands by Dora Abraham
    Commendation Award: River Road by Nicholas Duddy
    Merit Awards: We Need to Talk about Julia by Aarod Vawser and Touch by Ren Williams

    A staged reading of the senior category winning play and a presentation of the awards was held on Monday 12 October, 2020, at the Flinders University Drama Centre.

  • Senior Category (ages 18-25)
    Award Winner: Zachary Sheridan (The Dead)
    High Commendation: Dora Abraham (Race of Giants)
    Merits: Nick Duddy (We Three, The Sea) & Jamila Main (How To Eat Rabbit)

    Junior Category (high school students)
    Award Winner: Laneikka Denne (Dead Skin)

    A staged reading of the senior category winning play and a presentation of the awards was held on Monday 22 July, 2019, at the Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre.

    2019 winners received:

    Junior Award (high school students)

    • $500 cash prize
    • 8 Play Subscription to our 2020 season
    • A script development session under the guidance of a professional director and mentoring playwright

    Senior Award (ages 18 – 25)

    • $1000 cash prize
    • 8 Play Subscription to our 2020 season
    • Script development and dramaturgy workshops under the guidance of a professional director and mentoring playwright
    • A public reading of their work
  • The 2018 Senior award winner was Jamie Hornsby, whose psychological thriller Ascend was inspired by his extensive research of cults, and the notion of living in a ‘post-truth’ world.

    Currently an Honours student specialising in Playwriting at UniSA, Jamie is also an actor, director and musician.

    His play because there was fire, commissioned by Jopuka Productions, won Best New Work at the 2018 Newcastle Fringe awards and will tour nationally this year.

    Three of his short plays have appeared in Jopuka Productions’ Whatever Theatre Festival, and he has been commissioned to write an ambitious piece of youth theatre, Transcendence.

    Jamie is a graduate of the Adelaide College of the Arts and in his time there served as the head writer on the devised theatre piece, Canto. As an actor, he has toured South Australia with Waxing Lyrical Productions’ Romeo and Juliet and toured Disneyland, California with Adelaide Youth Theatre. His music also appeared in Adelaide University Theatre Guild’s Much Ado About Nothing.

    Zoe Muller won the award in the 2018 junior category for her work Rattling the Keys and has been working on the script under the guidance of director Corey McMahon.

    Fascinated by the small towns of rural South Australia, Zoe was inspired to write a story that would connect with young adults and focus on a prominent issue within that community. In this play, Zoe explores the issue of methamphetamine addiction through the lens of teenagers living in Coober Pedy.

    The high school student, who says the award has inspired her to keep writing, wrote a stage adaptation of Puberty Blues in 2017 and made her directing debut at the Adelaide Fringe. She is also the co-creator of Deadset Theatre Company, which aims to produce shows for young audiences.

    Find out more about the 2018 winners here.

  • Jack Cummins won the award in the 2017 Junior Category for his work Clanstow, which he has begun developing further with his acting school Actors Ink for a performance at the 2018 Adelaide Fringe. The Year 11 St Ignatius student was inspired to submit for the competition after completing the 2016 State Theatre Company work experience program.

    The 2017 Senior Award winner was CJ McLean, whose play The River explores the relationship between love, hatred and jealousy, and the poisonous effect of this mix on life decisions. CJ completed his Honours in Creative Arts (Creative Writing) at Flinders University in 2015. During his degree, he also attended Oxford University’s Creative Writing Summer School, and travelled to Guangzhou, China as part of the AsiaBound project to mentor creative writing students at Sun Yat-sen University.

    In 2015, CJ was nominated in the Express Media Awards for Best Piece Published in Buzzcuts, and he has received two Commendations from the State Theatre Company in the Young Playwrights Award. The emerging Adelaide writer developed a seven-minute monologue, Changing Room, which was later reworked and broadcast on ABC Radio National’s Pocketdocs program in late 2016, and published by Currency Press in an anthology of the same name. In 2017, CJ mounted his first one-man cabaret show for the Adelaide Fringe, Love & Anger, which explored themes of lost love and self-identity.

    As winners of the Flinders Young Playwrights Award Jack and CJ were awarded script development with Dramaturg and Director Sarah Dunn, with CJ’s development culminating in a public reading at the Dunstan Playhouse with actors Annabel Matheson and Matilda Bailey.

    2016 Flinders Young Playwrights Awards

    Senior Winner: Peter Beaglehole – Strata

    Junior Winner: James Watson – Empty Vanity

Student Achievement Awards

State Theatre Company’s Student Achievement Awards recognises graduating Year 12 students who have demonstrated commitment and passion throughout their high school drama education. Nominations are assessed on the basis of willingness to learn, dedication to the subject and extracurricular commitment, regardless of grades. Winners receive a State Theatre Company Subscription.

Nominations for the 2021 Awards are now closed.

 

2021 Student Achievement Award Winners

Tahneisha Mottishaw – Glenunga International High School

At the beginning of the year she co-curated an exhibition celebrating her late mothers, body of work as an graffiti artist at Tandanya. She has studied Creative Arts, Media Studies, IB Film and Drama throughout the year as well as been an innovative Arts Captain leading a number of initiatives and events and member of the ensemble in our Musical Theatre Club who are presenting Grease in December. Tahneisha’s interest and curiosity to discover all forms across the arts drives her in all she does. Being raised in such a highly creative environment from a young age has allowed for a contemporary and artistic point of view with fresh and innovative ideas. Though beginning her interest in drama with a passion for acting, her love for design has since prevailed. This mindset combined with her ever-developing skills in all areas of the arts gives Tahneisha a diverse set of ideas which she looks forward to bringing to fruition in the future.

Ethan James – Mercedes College

Ethan James is, one of the most worthy recipients for this award.  He is passionate about performing arts and has been involved in curriculum Drama every year since Year 6. Every year, Ethan has been an incredible advocate for the arts in the school community and 2021 has been his biggest success. He never gave up, even when tasks became incredibly difficult for him and he always sought feedback and kept trying to improve. In 2021, he has undertaken the role of an Arts Captain and he has held this with high esteem, continuously representing the Arts with energy and enthusiasm. He leads by example and always takes the time to personally congratulate and encourage students and thank staff with words of genuine appreciation and passion. In my 10 years of teaching Drama, there has never been a more worthy candidate for this award.

Charlotte Hunt – Woodville High School

Charlotte has been involved extensively within the Arts at Woodville High School since starting in year 8. She has overcome extreme shyness and has repeatedly demonstrated resilience and commitment to move beyond her personal fears to realise her characterisations. Her willingness to listen, learn, take risks and support her peers makes her a strong advocate for, and representative of, the Arts. Charlotte’s growth as an artist, from the tiny year 8 who held back tears at having to share her name out loud, to the graduating Yr 12 who now sits with similar year 8s and takes the risks they are too frightened to take has been an extraordinary privilege to witness.