Media Release

$30,000 injection for Victorian playwrights

Victorian playwrights are invited to apply for this year’s R.E. Ross Trust Playwrights’ Script Development Awards. Entries for the Awards are open from May 2. Now in their third year the Awards support and foster Victoria’s theatre industry by providing support to Victorian-based writers to develop their play scripts.

The Awards are an initiative of the R.E. Ross Trust and are administered by the State Library of Victoria. The total annual prize money is $30,000. Applicants are eligible to apply for a minimum of $3,000 per annum up to $10,000.

The 2004 winners included actor Pauline Whyman for That’s a Good Question, a play about an Aboriginal woman, ‘stolen’ from her biological family as a child, and Anthony Crowley for the epic Shadow Passion. The vlue of the Awards is demonstrated by the achievement of the 2003 winners whose plays were presented either as public readings or full scale productions in 2004.

Tee O’Neill, a winner of the 2003 Award said ‘The R.E. Ross Trust Award gave me invaluable time with theatre artists to develop the play from first draft to rehearsal-ready script.’ As a result of the Award, her play will be presented in the Theatre@Risk season at Theatreworks.

The 2005 prizewinners will be announced at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards presentation held in October. The closing date for entries is 3 June 2005. Entry forms and guidelines are available on the State Library of Victoria website at: www.slv.vic.gov.au/ross.

Entry inquiries:
Barry Scott
8664 7277
bscott@slv.vic.gov.au