Published Yesterday at 01:15 PM

Minister for Education and the Arts
The Honourable John-Paul Langbroek

Premier’s Drama Award finalists take centre stage

  • The Crisafulli Government has announced the finalists for the prestigious 2026 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. 
  • Playwrights Melanie Tait, Michelle Law and Alberto Di Troia have reached the final stage for one of Australia’s most significant playwright awards.
  • The winner will receive a $30,000 cash prize and their play will be included in Queensland Theatre Company’s 2027 season. 

The Crisafulli Government is delivering the 2026 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award, with three Australian playwrights in the running to receive the coveted award. 

As one of Australia’s long-standing and most significant awards for playwrights, the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award will see the winner presented with a $30,000 cash prize.  

The winner will also receive a full commission fee to develop their play and a world premiere production in Queensland Theatre Company’s 2027 season, including box office royalties.  

Australian playwrights Melanie Tait, Michelle Law and Alberto Di Troia have been selected as finalists for this year’s Award. 

The competitive 2026 Award attracted 269 submissions from across Australia, with finalists’ concepts for new plays ranging from epic family dramas to sitcoms. 

The three finalists will next take part in a week-long writing residency, and their works will be presented in a public reading prior to the selection and announcement of the winner later this year. 

Minister for Education and the Arts John-Paul Langbroek said the initiative would ensure new stories continue to be celebrated locally and nationally. 

“The Queensland Premier’s Drama Award is one of Australia’s most significant prizes for playwrights,” Minister Langbroek said. 

“The Crisafulli Government’s investment in Queensland Theatre Company enables it to commission and present new work, connecting audiences with diverse stories through rich theatre experiences. 

“We’re proud to deliver a fresh start for the arts by celebrating our storytellers and boosting the State’s reputation as a vibrant cultural destination.”  

Queensland Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Daniel Evans, who won the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award in 2015 with Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, said the program holds a special place in his heart. 

“This is a transformative opportunity for Australian writers and theatre-makers to create unforgettable pieces of theatre,” Mr Evans said. 

“For audiences, the Award is a key that unlocks a treasure chest of untold truths, fascinating stories, bold new perspectives, provocative ideas and profound emotions.”  

The Queensland Premier’s Drama Award is supported by the Queensland Theatre Company and Griffith University.   

ENDS 

MEDIA CONTACT: Kate Rogers 0426 414 298 

Additional information about the finalists and their submissions: 

Michelle Law is a writer and actor. She writes for print, theatre, and screen. Her plays include Top Coat (2022), Miss Peony (2023), and the smash-hit play Single Asian Female (2017-2022). She won the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Award in 2016.  

Michelle Law’s 2026 submission, Cake is a funny, heartbreaking story of family and generational divisions set in Brisbane’s Sunnybank. When a young woman joins forces with her estranged father to plan a family wedding, she finds herself willing to mend their relationship until his closely-guarded secrets threaten to blow everything apart. 

Alberto Di Troia is a writer and script producer who has worked extensively across screen and theatre. He recently co-wrote and produced the script for Episode 2 of Netflix crime drama The Survivors. In 2022, Alberto became the first Victorian recipient of the SBS Emerging Writers Incubator, which saw him join Tony Ayres Productions as a development assistant. 

Alberto Di Troia’s 2026 submission, My Erotic Journey Through Italian Fascism is a darkly comic thriller set across Australia and rural Italy. The story features a young, queer writer who travels to his ancestral Italian village where he discovers many of his long-lost family are neo-fascists. 

Melanie Tait is a playwright and screenwriter. Her first play, The Vegemite Tales, won critical and popular acclaim and ran in London theatres for eight years. The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race, which premiered in Sydney in March 2019, toured Australia and New Zealand before being adapted into a feature film. Melanie also has a television series in development with Easy Tiger and BBC Studios. 

Melanie Tait’s 2026 submission, Mrs Crocodilia is a new comedy set in Queensland tourist attraction, Crocodilia Park. Led by park founder and matriarch, Lynnie McGarry, and her three very different daughters, this modern, feminist retelling of King Lear is a story of legacy and succession in Far North Queensland.  

Further details: