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Awards & Commissions

Awards

JILL BLEWETT PLAYWRIGHTS AWARD

This prestigious Award, established in memory of former Company Chair Jill Blewett, is granted biennially by Arts SA, administered by the State Library of South Australia with the support of State Theatre Company South Australia.

$12,500 is awarded for an unproduced play of any genre written by a professional South Australian playwright. Further information about the award can be found at the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature.


State Theatre Company’s charitable Foundation proudly administers the Jill Blewett Playwrights Award Endowment Fund. State Theatre Company is committed to growing the Jill Blewett Playwrights Award and their impact in the future. Your generous gift plays a critical role in fostering talented playwrights and writing powerful new stories for the stage.

We hope to build this endowment fund in order to continue offering the Jill Blewett Playwrights Award to foster talented playwrights as they write powerful new stories for the stage. You can support the Jill Blewett Playwrights Award by giving online or by contacting our Philanthropy Manager Cath Bauer at cbauer@statetheatrecompany.com.au

SUPPORTED BY:

Government of South Australia through Arts South Australia
Jill Blewett Playwrights Award Endowment Fund donors:

Anon
Hon John Bannon AO
Hon Dr Neal Blewett AC
Simon Blewett
Colin Brewer
Rob Brookman AM & Verity Laughton
Prof John Chalmers AC
Creative Partnerships Australia
Alex Diamantis
Malcolm Gray & Laura Healy
Peter & Elizabeth Hambly
Lady Patricia Harewood
Hon Chris Hurford AO
Hon Anne Levy AO
Tony Llewellyn-Jones
Wilfred Prest
Guy Ross & Ellen Poyner
Diané Ranck
Leonie Scrivener
Silsbury Family
Pat & Hugh Stretton AC
Megan Stoyles
Thyne Reid Foundation
Kim Williams AM
Trevor & Jane Wilson

  • 1992: Jimmy Chi Bran Nue Dae 
    1994: Melissa Reeves Sweetown
    1996: Daniel Keene Because You Are Mine
    1998: Hillary Bell Wolf Lullaby
    2000: Andrew Bovell, Irine Vela, Christos Tsiolkas, Patricia Cornelius, Melissa Reeves Who’s Afraid of the Working Class?
    2002: Josh Tyler Small Faith
    2004: Sean Riley Beautiful Words
    2006: Finegan Kruckemeyer This Unchartered Hour
    2008: Duncan Graham Merger – art, life and the other thing
    2010: Nina Pearce This Place
    2012: Nicki Bloom A Cathedral 
    2014: Phillip Kavanagh Replay 
    2016: Fleur Kilpatrick Blessed and Duncan Graham Dreams in White
    2018: Emily Steel 19 weeks
    2020: Piri Eddy Forgiveness
    2022: Peter Beaglehole Calendar Days
    2024: Melissa-Kelly Franklin Paradise lost


    Since 2014, winners of the Jill Blewett Playwrights Award have been commissioned by State Theatre Company South Australia to write new plays for consideration for programming in future seasons. Commissions include:

    As One by Phillip Kavanagh
    Terrestrial by Fleur Kilpatrick (part of Season 2018)
    Creditors by Duncan Graham (part of Season 2018)

FLINDERS UNIVERSITY YOUNG THEATREMAKERS' AWARD

The Flinders University Young Theatremaker’s Award links young high school theatremakers to professional industry resources and mentorship, culminating in a public performance. The new program has been developed based on participant feedback, in consultation with students, educators and industry professionals, and has replaced the existing Flinders University Young Playwrights’ Award. Click here to learn more.

Commissions

At State Theatre Company, our vision is that the Company will, alongside its work with reinvigorated classics and extant Australian repertoire, be a powerhouse for the development of outstanding new work. At the heart of that process is our commissioning program.

Writers currently under commission include:

Samuel Adamson
Van Badham
Elena Carapetis
Anna Goldsworthy
Verity Laughton
Meow Meow
Emily Steel
Kyron Weetra
Alexis West
Richard Wise

  • In our history, we have shepherded a massive number of new works through our best practice development model achieving over an 85% ‘page to stage’ success rate since 2013.

    A list of our commissioned works can be found here.

Unsolicited Scripts

We do not receive unsolicited submissions from unproduced writers.

If you would like a written assessment of your work we refer you to the Australian Writers Guild.
Information on their script assessment services can be found here.

You can also seek further resources and assistance from Australian Plays Transform or the SA Writers Centre.