The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards will be taking a pause for 2024.

The Writers’ Guild Awards have been celebrating UK writers – and writing – since they launched in 1961.

Through their long history, they have taken regular breaks, reflecting the changing work of the union and the contemporary landscape for writers.

The current series, which was launched in 2015 and spearheaded by former WGGB President Olivia Hetreed, has seen writers across TV, film, theatre, radio, books, comedy and videogames honoured at an annual red-carpet ceremony in London, featuring high profile winners, presenters and guests including Jack Thorne, Russell T Davies, Kay Mellor, Caryl Churchill, Tom Stoppard, Heidi Thomas, David Edgar, Meera Syal, Katy Brand, Samira Ahmed, Steven Moffat, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mackenzie Crook, Caitlin Moran, Armando Iannucci, Helen Lederer, Billie Piper, Emerald Fennell, Rob Delaney, Paul Abbott, Sally Wainwright and many more.

The ceremony has been instrumental in shining a greater spotlight on the work of the union and raising awareness of the issues currently facing writers in the UK.

The awards are funded entirely by sponsorship and we are hugely grateful to our lead sponsor ALCS, and our other regular sponsors over the past eight years, including BBC, ITV, Script Angel, Nick Hern Books and more.

WGGB members and officers have taken a leading role in the Writers’ Guild Awards, voluntarily sitting on juries to select nominees and winners, and in the organisation of the ceremony itself, alongside the events organiser Ali Welsh who has played a prominent role in the success of this latest incarnation.

Most recently WGGB Chair Lisa Holdsworth, Treasurer Gail Renard and Deputy Chairs Emma Reeves and William Gallagher, have overseen the annual event.

Since we relaunched the Writers’ Guild Awards in 2015, writers in the UK have been affected by Brexit, the Covid pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis, brutal arts funding cuts, the onward march of the streaming revolution and other challenges to their livelihoods. Spiralling inflation has also had an impact on the cost of running the awards ceremony itself.

The pause of the awards will enable us to re-evaluate the awards against this changing landscape, and how best they might support our work as a trade union – and the needs of our membership – in future.

Watch this space for future announcements!

Photo: Matt Writtle