Spotlight Falls on Davies & Pratchett at Writers' Guild Awards 2009

LONDON, November 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Writers' Guild of Great Britain tonight announced the winners of the 13 awards made annually for outstanding script writing in the UK. This year the spotlight fell on Andrew Davies, the master of UK TV adaptations, who won recognition for Lifetime Achievement and Sir Terry Pratchett, best-selling creator of Discworld, who was honoured for his Outstanding Contribution to Children's Writing.

These prestigious annual awards recognise talented UK scriptwriters across a range of disciplines including TV, theatre, film, radio and video games. Presented during a reception this evening (29 November 2009) at London's new Free Word Centre, The Writers' Guild Awards are sponsored by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), BBC Writersroom, BBC Talent Rights Group and HW Fisher & Company, the accountants with many clients in the entertainment and media world.

Andrew Davies is best known for his 1995 BBC television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle and the screenplay of the 2001 cinema hit Bridget Jones's Diary. Earlier TV successes included A Very Peculiar Practice and House of Cards, and he is currently working on a new film version of George Eliot's Middlemarch.

Sir Terry Pratchett - knighted this year for his services to literature - is honoured for his outstanding contribution as a children's writer, although his Discworld series of comedy fantasy novels has hooked readers of all ages. His first published novel, The Carpet People, was written for children and other works for the young include The Bromeliad Trilogy and Nation, published last year - a reading from this novel formed part of the award presentation.

    
    The winners of the other eleven categories for the Writers' Guild Awards
    2009 were:

    - Best Short Form TV Drama:    Peter Moffat - Criminal Justice

    - Best Continuing TV Drama:    The writers - Coronation Street

    - Best TV Drama Series:        Toby Whithouse - Being Human

    - Best TV Comedy /
      Light Entertainment:         Andy Hamilton & Guy Jenkin:
                                   Outnumbered, Series 2

    - Best Theatre Play:           Juliet Gilkes Romero: At the Gates of Gaza

    - Best Theatre Play for
      Children and Young People:   Brendan Murray: Scarlet Ribbons

    - Best Feature Film 
      Screenplay:                  Enda Walsh & Steve McQueen: Hunger

    - Best Feature Film 
      Screenplay - Newcomer:       Eran Creevy: Shifty

    - Best Radio Comedy /
      Light Entertainment:         Richie Webb, David Quantick & Dave Cohen: 
                                   15 Minute Musicals

    - Best Radio Drama:            Katie Hims: The Gunshot Wedding

    - Best Videogame Script:       Andrew S Walsh: Prince of Persia

Notes for Editors

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain is the trade union representing writers in TV, radio, theatre, books, poetry, film, online and video games.

In TV, film, radio and theatre, the Guild is the recognised body for negotiating minimum terms and practice agreements (http://www.writersguild.org.uk/public/005_WritersGuil/index.html) for writers.

The Guild also campaigns and lobbies on behalf of all writers.

The Free Word Centre

60 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA

The Free Word Centre was created by the following organisations; Apples and Snakes, Article 19, Booktrust, English PEN, Index on Censorship, The Arvon Foundation, The Literary Consultancy, The Reading Agency, and described as a venue, a meeting place, an office space, a thinking space, a place of debate and risk taking, a window to the world, a robust voice for the word.

For more information see the Free Word Centre website http://www.freewordonline.com/

http://www.writersguild.org.uk