Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting

Craig Batty is Professor and Dean of Research (Creative) at the University of South Australia. He is the author, co-author and editor of 15 books on screenwriting and screen production, including Script Development: Critical Approaches, Creative Practices, International Perspectives (2020), Writing for the Screen: Creative and Critical Approaches (2nd ed.) (2019) and Screen Production Research: Creative Practice as a Mode of Enquiry (2018).

He is also a writer, script editor and script consultant, with experiences in short film, feature film, television and online drama. He has assessed scripts for many industry bodies and competitions over the past 17 years, as well as led many screenwriting workshops in the UK and Australia.

Vanessa Alexander is an award-winning writer, director and producer who works between Australia, the US and the UK. Internationally, she has written for the Emmy-nominated series The Great, the new Netflix Vikings spinoff Valhalla and the UK/Canadian crime drama Tin Star.

She has also written for the Australian series Love Child and The Wrong Girl, the latter garnering her an AWGIE nomination in 2018. Vanessa has worked extensively in both comedy and drama writers rooms around the world where she is a sought-after storyliner with a great flair for poorly-behaved but endearing female protagonists.

Prior to moving to Australia, Vanessa worked extensively in film and television in New Zealand and was one of the first females to direct The Power Rangers.

Reg Cribb is an award-winning writer for stage and screen; he has won an AACTA for Best Adapted Screenplay and been nominated for another two, the Patrick White Playwright’s Award, two WA Premier’s Literary Awards, the major WA Premier’s award, a NSW Premier’s Literary Award, a QLD Literary Premier’s Award and he has been nominated for six AWGIE awards. 

Reg adapted his play Last Cab To Darwin as a feature film starring Michael Caton and Jackie Weaver. It premiered at the Sydney Film Festival and made $7.5M at the Australian box office. Other screenplays by Reg include The Great Mint Swindle, Bran Nue Dae, Last Train To Freo.  

Recent plays include Country Song, Krakouer!, Thomas Murray and the Upside Down River, The Haunting of Daniel Gartrell, Unaustralia, The Damned and Boundary Street among others.