Scriptwriters Hannah McKie and Simon Hall have jointly won the annual David Carson-Parker Embassy Trust Prize for their stories about relationships within a Christchurch family home and a Catholic priest’s journey to Africa.

The Master’s students in the Creative Writing programme at Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) received their $1,000 prizes at a function at the Embassy Theatre on Monday evening. The annual prize is awarded to the best script for a feature film written during the Master’s in Creative Writing at IIML.

Theatre director Susan Wilson says Ms McKie’s script provided a real sense of the intimacies of the McKenzie family life. “The script brings wonderful credibility and grit. You can almost smell these people”

Playwright and actor Simon O’Connor, also on the judging panel, praised the play for its insight, energy and humour, and ultimately for its honest and moving portrayal of family relationships.

Mr Hall’s feature film script tells the story of Ethan, a Catholic priest sent to Africa to investigate and discredit the miracles of a charismatic woman being celebrated as a new messiah.

Actor and script developer Mick Rose says Mr Hall wrote a strong script with a bold and original premise and compelling lead characters.

Victoria Scriptwriting Programme Director Ken Duncum says the quality of scripts in the course was so uniformly high that picking a single winner proved too difficult for the judges. “Jointly awarding the prize to two writers was a more accurate reflection of the strength of the scripts across the class.”

Funded through the Victoria University Foundation, the prize was first established by the Embassy Theatre Trust and is now funded by arts philanthropist David Carson-Parker.