A glittering red-carpet event by writers, for writers, with the most diverse and inclusive nominee list of any awards shortlist announced so far this year (industry: take note, this is how you do it), last night’s WGGB Awards ceremony was as funny, irreverent and joyous as you’d expect from the creative storytellers whose words, vision and imagination our industry stands on the shoulders of.
Reports Hayley McKenzie
The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards are a hugely important celebration of the UK’s writing talent across film, television, theatre, radio, games and novels. The Awards allow professional writers to honour their peers and shine a much-deserved spotlight on UK writers, who are admired across the globe. As an organisation passionate about developing the most exciting new, diverse screenwriting talent, it was an honour for Script Angel to sponsor this year’s WGGB Awards.
The evening was hosted with wit and verve by Katy Brand, with inspiring speeches by WGGB President Sandi Toksvig and WGGB Chair Lisa Holdsworth, along with a moving tribute to the late, great Terrance Dicks by WGGB Deputy Chair William Gallagher.
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees of the 2020 Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards.
Best Long Form TV Drama
WINNER: Blood, Series 1, Episode 6 (Sophie Petzal)
Gentleman Jack (Sally Wainwright)
Tin Star (Rowan Joffe)
Best Short Form TV Drama
Brexit: The Uncivil War (James Graham)
WINNER: Care (Gillian Juckes and Jimmy McGovern)
Mrs Wilson (Anna Symon)
Best Long Running TV Series
EastEnders, Episode 5028 (Peter Mattessi)
Holby City, Season 21, Episode 5, ‘Mad As Hell’ (Martin Jameson)
WINNER: Hollyoaks, Episode 5013 (Roanne Bardsley)
Best TV Situation Comedy
WINNER: Brassic (Danny Brocklehurst)
Derry Girls (Lisa McGee)
Home (Rufus Jones)
Best Children’s TV Episode
WINNER: Danger Mouse, Series 2, Episode 39, ‘Melted’ (Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Barnett Jones)
The A List, Episode 6, ‘Far From Home’ (Dan Berlinka and Nina Metivier)
The Worst Witch, ‘Bad Magic’ (Neil Jones)
Best Radio Drama
WINNER: 404 (Timothy X Atack)
Home Front: A Fragile Peace (Katie Hims)
The Not Knowing (Daniel Maier)
Best Radio Comedy
The Hauntening (Tom Neenan)
Madam Mayor (Brenda Gilhooly)
WINNER: Prepper (Caroline Moran and James J Moran)
Best Writing in a Video Game
Heaven’s Vault (Jon Ingold)
WINNER: Over the Alps (Jon Ingold, Katharine Neil and Nick Bush)
Telling Lies (Sam Barlow and Amelia Gray)
Best Screenplay
Beats (Kieran Hurley and Brian Welsh)
Stan & Ollie (Jeff Pope)
WINNER: The Last Tree (Shola Amoo)
Best First Screenplay
WINNER: Only You (Harry Wootliff)
The Fight (Jessica Hynes)
VS. (Daniel Hayes and Ed Lilly)
Best Play
Ali and Dahlia (Tariq Jordan)
The Cane (Mark Ravenhill)
WINNER: Wolfie (Ross Willis)
Best Play for Young Audiences
Like Water For Goldfish (Mike Kenny)
Small Wonders (Nessah Muthy)
WINNER: The Canary and the Crow (Daniel Ward)
Best Musical Theatre Bookwriting
Growl – The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf (Timothy Knapman)
WINNER: In The Willows – The Hip Hop Musical (Poppy Burton-Morgan)
Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch (Robyn Grant and Daniel Foxx)
Best First Novel
WINNER: Cygnet (Season Butler)
Finally Woken (Dean Moynihan)
Something Like Breathing (Angela Readman)
Best Online Comedy
Down From London (Graham Dickson and Liz Kingsman)
Paper Trail (Ben Rufus Green)
WINNER: Side Effects of the Pill (Hannah George and Tasha Dhanraj)
And finally…
WINNER: Outstanding Contribution to Writing – John Finnemore
Congratulations all!
