Amstel Playwright of the Year Award
The Amstel Playwright of the Year Award was an independent non-governmental competition for new South African play texts.
Also referred to as Amstel Playwright of the Year or Amstel Playwright's Award
An annual competition for new theatre scripts instituted at the behest of, and managed by, Nicholas Ellenbogen and sponsored by Amstel Breweries, the competition was launched in South Africa in 1978 and eventually discontinued in 1994.
Besides the award(s) for the overall Winner (in some years there would be more than one), there was also a category Special Merit Award. In 1979 the competition also introduced a children’s play section.
The first award went to John Pank for Windmills of the Mind and James Ambrose Brown for Time and the Wood in 1978, with Merit Awards going to Zakes Mda for We Shall Sing for the Fatherland and to Michael Drin for Inquest on Gordon.
The first award for a children's play went to Pieter Scholtz in 1979, for The Amazing Adventures of Tambootie the Puppet and in 1980 for Mister Big Strikes Again ).
The winners
In 1979 it was won by Zakes Mda for The Hill. Other winners have been Shirley Johnston?*, Paul Slabolepszy for Saturday Night at the Palace (1981), Charles Fourie, Geraldine Aron (Commended for Brenda, 1983), John Hunt for Vid Alex.
(For a full list of all the winnners, see the entry on the Award in Wikipedia[1])
An annual competition for new theatre scripts instituted in 1977/8?* at the behest and under the management of Nicholas Ellenbogen. First awarded to John Pank for Windmills of the Mind and James Ambrose Brown for Time and the Wood in 1978, with Zakes Mda receiving a Merit Award for We Shall Sing for the Fatherland. In 1979 it was won by Zakes Mda for The Hill. Other winners have been Shirley Johnston?*, Paul Slabolepszy for Saturday Night at the Palace (1981), Charles Fourie, Geraldine Aron (Commended for Brenda, 1983), John Hunt for Vid Alex.
See also: Awards, Competitions, Honours, Prizes
[JH, FdV, TH]
Sources
Wikipedia [2].
Amstel Playwright of the Year Award. In: Wikipedia[3]
Gosher, 1988.
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