Space Nova wins 2021 John Hinde Award for Excellence

Screenwriter Thomas Duncan-Watt has won the 2021 John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science-Fiction writing for Episode 11 of the animated series Space Nova.

Presented by the Australian Writers’ Guild, the John Hinde Award was established as part of a bequest from the late Australian film critic John Hinde.

The joint ABC / Nine series follows the interstellar quest of the maverick Nova family as they seek out extra-terrestrial intelligence beyond the fringes of known space.

Duncan-Watt, who won an AWGIE Award in the Animation category for the series in 2020, was awarded the $10,000 prize for Episode 11 of the first season, ‘Ghost Station’.

“I’ve been writing science-fiction since I was about 11, when my friend Josh Brandon brought a bunch of us together on weekends to make our own sci-fi show. Space Nova represented the opportunity of a lifetime – a chance not only to help shape a world-class science-fiction series, but one written with my younger self in mind,” said Duncan-Watt.

The series marks Duncan-Watt’s debut as Head Writer / Script Producer, a role production company SLR offered him after working together to develop the series and write the pilot.

“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Suzanne Ryan, Jo Boag and the whole team at SLR with whom I shared a vision of a series that delivered ground-breaking ideas, characters and themes not afraid to tackle the big ‘what ifs’ at the core of great sci-fi. Winning Australia’s most prestigious science-fiction screenwriting prize is not only a dream come true but an incredible validation of that vision achieved.”