Playwright and novelist Vernon Pua has won the 2026 Griffin Award for outstanding new Australian playwriting for his play 8 Hot Tips On Sharing Your Bed, securing an $18,000 commission and dramaturgical support from Griffin Theatre Company to develop the work.

Supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, the annual award recognises an unproduced play by an Australian writer. This year attracted 129 submissions.

Set in Sydney as the city prepares for the Olympic Games, 8 Hot Tips On Sharing Your Bed follows two international students, Sunny and Meng, who share a cramped bedroom – and a single bed – by sleeping in alternating 12-hour shifts. As financial pressures intensify, their practical arrangement gradually evolves into a relationship that challenges both characters’ assumptions about friendship, desire and survival.

Vernon Pua. Portrait supplied

The award was presented at Griffin’s annual Griffin Award & Keynote event, held at Belvoir’s Downstairs Theatre, where acclaimed actor, writer and director Sheridan Harbridge delivered the keynote address.

Griffin Theatre Company Artistic Director Declan Greene described the 2026 field as exceptionally strong, saying the judges were unanimous in selecting Pua’s play.

“Vernon has created something special – a tender, intelligent exploration of the lives of international students: the precarity, the hope,” Greene said. “Our team at Griffin are beyond excited to develop it.”

Pua said receiving the award was especially meaningful because of his long connection with Griffin.

“The Stables Theatre has been a cornerstone of my personal and creative life for many years,” he said. “This recognition – the Griffin Award – means the world to me.”

Originally from Malaysia, Pua studied at the University of Sydney and has previously been a finalist for both the Griffin Award and the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award. His fiction has appeared in journals including Overland, Washington Square Review and Willow Springs.

Recent winners of the Griffin Award include: Michele Lee (for Snappy in 2025); Jules Orcullo (My Dad Never Saw The Beatles, 2024); Wendy Mocke (I am Kegu, 2023); Grace Chow (The Promise Land, 2023) and Megan Wilding in 2022 for Game. Set. Match.

The award dates back to 1988.