Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting

Jane McCredie is an award-winning journalist, writer and reviewer who has been widely published in Australia and internationally. A former book publisher, she is the CEO of Writing NSW and the founder and director of the Quantum Words Festival of writing about science. She is the author of Making Girls and Boys: Inside the science of sex and was coeditor of the 2013 anthology of The Best Australian Science Writing. Jane is a graduate of the Australia Council’s arts leaders program and has previously chaired both the Christina Stead and Douglas Stewart panels of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

Kathryn is Professor of Screen and Creative Arts at Macquarie University. She is also a writer and director whose films are internationally recognised and much awarded. Most recently, Kathryn’s feature documentary Shock Room (2015) won ‘Best Australian Documentary’ at the Antennae Documentary Film Festival and has travelled widely. Other major long-form credits as writer and director include The Boot Cake (2008); Travelling Light (2003); Parklands (1996) and Light Years (1991). Kathryn’s scripts—across drama and documentary—have received multiple Australian Film Institute and AWGIE (Australian Writers’ Guild) nominations. 

Dr Anna Broinowski is a multiple AACTA and Walkley-winning filmmaker who documents subversive political subjects. Her films include Aim High in Creation! (about North Korean propaganda cinema); Please Explain (about populist Senator Pauline Hanson); Forbidden Lie$ (about hoax-author Norma Khouri); and Helen’s War (about anti-nuclear crusader Dr Helen Caldicott). Anna’s written two books, The Director is the Commander (2015) and Please Explain: the rise, fall and rise again of Pauline Hanson (2017). A Screen Arts lecturer at Sydney University, Anna is currently working on a new magical feature film set at Uluru, and researching the rise of fake political videos online.

Pearl Tan is the founder and director of Pearly Productions, a filmmaking boutique with a focus on diverse stories. She is currently the Senior Lecturer in Directing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). She was Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Equity Diversity Committee within the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and held positions on the MEAA Board and the National Performers Committee (NPC) for Actors Equity. She currently sits on the AFTRS Council and on the board of Critical Stages Touring. She is the NSW Chapter Head for the Australian Directors Guild (ADG). In 2017, she delivered a TEDx talk entitled Reimagining Diversity. In 2016, Pearl was named a Woman of Influence by the Australian Financial Review and Westpac.