Queensland Premier’s Drama Award
Celebrating more than 20 years of new Australian playwriting

Queensland Premier's Drama Award 2025 Entries are now closed.
For over 20 years, Queensland Theatre in partnership with the Queensland Government has been giving playwrights from across the country the opportunity to share their work on stage through this unique competition culminating in a world premiere for the winning entry.
Every two years the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award discovers, develops and produces outstanding Australian plays. The award recognises excellence in playwriting and is open to writers across Australia, with stories that will connect with Queensland audiences today.
Thanks to sponsor Griffith University, the winner of the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2025 will receive a $30,000 cash prize on top of a $16,000 commission fee to develop the script ready for production as part of an upcoming Season at Queensland Theatre.
The winner of the 2025 Award will receive:
- $30,000 cash prize from Prize Sponsor Griffith University
- $16,000 fee to develop their play throughout 2025
- A world premiere production of their play as part of an upcoming Queensland Theatre Season.
2025 Award Judges
Past rounds
2022–23
Ryan Enniss, Drizzle Boy (winner)
Phoebe Grainer, Burning House
Anthony Mullins, The Norman Mailer Anecdote
2020–21
Steve Pirie, Return to the Dirt (winner)
Anna Loren, Comfort
Maddie Nixon, Binnavale
2018–19
David Megarrity, The Holidays (winner)
Hannah Belanszky, don’t ask what the bird look like
Anna Yen, Slow Boat
2016–17
Michele Lee, Rice (winner)
Kathryn Marquet, Furious Creatures
Suzie Miller, I Looked Up and There You Were
2014–15
Daniel Evans, Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (winner)
Tim Benzie, The Overflow
Megan Shorey, One in Seven
2012–13
Maxine Mellor, Trollop (winner)
Stephen Carleton, Bastard Territory
David Megarrity (for The Human Company), The Empty City
2010–11
Marcel Dorney, Fractions (winner)
Rebecca Clarke, Belongings
Philip Dean, Unreliable Bodies
2008–09
Richard Jordan, 25 Down (winner)
Katherine Lyall-Watson, Tinder
Sven Swenson, Dangerfield Park
2006–07
David Brown, The Estimator (winner)
Anthony Funnell, The Tram
Michael Riordan, String
2004–05
Adam Grossetti, Mano Nera (winner)
Stephen Carleton, Constance Drinkwater and the Last Days of Somerset
Philip Chappell, Welcome to Dreamland
2002–03
Sven Swenson, Road to the She-Devil’s Salon (winner)
Kathryn Ash, Flutter
Bruce Clark, The Kaufman Letter
Simon Ratcliffe, Conurb
Hugh Watson, The Valley
Gayle Wilkinson, Goat Head Burs
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Prize Sponsor
