Sir Peter Ustinov Scriptwriting Award

Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award

The International Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation

Created in 1989, The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation has its own Constitution, Officers and independent Board of Trustees.

Each year, The Foundation administers the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award. The competition is designed to motivate non-American novice writers under the age of 30, and offer them the recognition and encouragement that might lead to a successful career in television scriptwriting. Entrants are asked to create a completed half-hour to one-hour English-language television drama script.

The award winner receives $2,500.

 


The 2021 Winner, from the UK, was Jack Robson for his Script, The Corpse that Went to War.

Jack is an early-career writer hailing from the UK. He studied at the University of Cambridge, performing onstage and writing comedy in between reading a few books for his degree. He went on to study at Mountview in London, one of the leading drama schools in the UK. After graduating from drama school in 2019, he wrote and performed in his first play, I Woke Up Feeling Electric, a one-act existential comedy about a cheery AI assistant who starts to chafe against the role assigned to him. This play debuted in November 2019 in London, before he staged a revised version in February 2020. His play came down around three weeks before the whole world did! Although much of his experience so far lies in writing for the stage, he has been branching out into writing screenplays and teleplays.

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The 2020 Winner, from the UK, is Hannah Westall for her Script, Mind The Gap.

After a long obsession with storytelling of all kinds, particularly television, and achieving a First Class Honours in her BA Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies degree, Hannah realized she wanted to be a Screenwriter. She started writing in 2015, when she became Deputy Head of Comedy at the Cardiff University Student Television Station: CUTV.

After graduating, Hannah decided to undertake the MA Screenwriting program at London College of Communication. She wants to write stories for the screen that make audiences feel less alone, tackling issues such as mental health, and elevate diverse voices.

 


The 2019 Winner, from the UK, was Violet Macdonald for her Script, The Wolf.

Violet Macdonald is an Australian/British writer living in Montreal. She grew up on the island of Tasmania, where she spent her time writing hundreds of poems and short stories, some of which would see her go on to win accolades such as the Ted Hughes Young Poets Award, the H.E. Bates Short Story Award, and the title of reigning Australian Junior Bush Poetry Champion.

She moved with her family to London in 2009, at the age of 15. After finishing her studies in English Literature and Philosophy, she became an award-winning copywriter for global marketing agencies. Violet moved to Montreal in June 2019, where she plans to pursue her dreams of creative writing full time.

 


Previous Ustinov Winners:

2020 - Hannah Westall (United Kingdom) - Mind The Gap
2019 - Violet Macdonald (United Kingdom) - The Wolf
2018 - Lexi Savoy (Canada) - Who Killed Heather McAdams?
2017 - Joe Brukner (Australia) - Judas
2016 - C.S. McMullen (Australia) - Living Metal
2015 - Gabriel Bergmoser (Australia) - Windmills: Leo
2014 - Caitlin D. Fryers (Canada) Fealty
2013 - Rosy Deacon (UK) Shards
2012 - Sophie Petzal (UK) Sanctioned
2011 - Robert Goldsbrough (UK) The Forge
2010 - Jason Spencer (Australia) Spirits of the Past
2009 - Claire Tonkin (Australia) Me & Mine
2008 - Jez Freedman (UK) The Storyteller
2007 - Felicity Carpenter (Australia) Touching People
2006 - Nimer Rashed (UK) The Great McGinty
2005 - John Allison (UK) Distant Relatives
2004 - Caroline Doherty (South Africa) Passion Gap
2003 - Jo Kasch (Australia) Upstream
2002 - Howard Hunt (UK) Lie of the Land
2001 - Colm Maher (Ireland) True Story
2000 - Sylke Rene Meyer (Germany) Who is Anna Walentynowicz?
1999 - Glenn Weller (Australia) Beautiful Music
1998 - Tatyana Murzakova (Russia) Smile of the King


Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award

The International Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation

Created in 1989, The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation has its own Constitution, Officers and independent Board of Trustees.

Each year, The Foundation administers the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award. The competition is designed to motivate non-American novice writers under the age of 30, and offer them the recognition and encouragement that might lead to a successful career in television scriptwriting. Entrants are asked to create a completed half-hour to one-hour English-language television drama script.

The award winner receives $2,500.

 


The 2023 Winner, from the United Kingdom, was Omar Khan for his Script, Pocket Man

Omar Khan is a 27-year-old, British Pakistani writer actor who has been quietly building a large network of industry relationships through relentless cold calling and proactivity. This tenacity recently resulted in this London based creative’s first short film, which he wrote and starred in, funded by Netflix through UK based production company Fully Focused.

After screening this film to a room comprised largely of his own network he’d amassed, he received the opportunity to perform some of his original writing on the West End with the National Youth Theatre – where he is a member as an actor - before receiving his first commission as a playwright with them with the run of his first play scheduled for Spring 2024.

Omar is eager to tell fresh, relatable, and engaging stories certainly making him a creative to keep an eye on in the years to come. A prolific writer having written plays, series pilots, full length features, short stories, Omar’s style traverse all genres but what remains constant is the sharp dialogue he employs. Whether he explores grief in a horror film or romantic relationships in a twisted road trip between two outsiders. Whether it be friendship and chosen family in a sitcom pilot or generational trauma in a character study, Omar draws inspiration from his real life to write characters that are, above all, honest. Omar likens his stories to life and with life, there is no one genre. Laced with black comedy, even the saddest stories have a touch of levity. Moments are happy and sad, funny and tragic and all within moments of each other. This authenticity of Omar’s primary concern when writing any genre and is something that is supremely palpable in his work.

About Pocket Man : When trauma causes a 1st generation Pakistani immigrant to flee his homeland, pressures from his back home and the desire to adopt a child with his wife lead him to use his skills as a circus performer to aid a local gang in their crimes.

 


Previous Ustinov Winners:

2022 - Gina Song (Australia) - Miss Underworld
2021 - Jack Robson (United Kingdom) - The Corpse that Went to War
2020 - Hannah Westall (United Kingdom) - Mind The Gap
2019 - Violet Macdonald (United Kingdom) - The Wolf
2018 - Lexi Savoy (Canada) - Who Killed Heather McAdams?
2017 - Joe Brukner (Australia) - Judas
2016 - C.S. McMullen (Australia) - Living Metal
2015 - Gabriel Bergmoser (Australia) - Windmills: Leo
2014 - Caitlin D. Fryers (Canada) Fealty
2013 - Rosy Deacon (UK) Shards
2012 - Sophie Petzal (UK) Sanctioned
2011 - Robert Goldsbrough (UK) The Forge
2010 - Jason Spencer (Australia) Spirits of the Past
2009 - Claire Tonkin (Australia) Me & Mine
2008 - Jez Freedman (UK) The Storyteller
2007 - Felicity Carpenter (Australia) Touching People
2006 - Nimer Rashed (UK) The Great McGinty
2005 - John Allison (UK) Distant Relatives
2004 - Caroline Doherty (South Africa) Passion Gap
2003 - Jo Kasch (Australia) Upstream
2002 - Howard Hunt (UK) Lie of the Land
2001 - Colm Maher (Ireland) True Story
2000 - Sylke Rene Meyer (Germany) Who is Anna Walentynowicz?
1999 - Glenn Weller (Australia) Beautiful Music
1998 - Tatyana Murzakova (Russia) Smile of the King