The three finalists for the 2025 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award have been announced. Australia’s most significant national playwriting prize will be decided between David Burton, Jordan Shea and Steve Rodgers, who were chosen from more than 200 entries.

The winner will receive a $30,000 cash prize on top of a $16,000 commission fee to develop the script ready for production as part of an upcoming Season at Queensland Theatre.

David Burton, Jordan Shea and Steve Rodgers. Images supplied

Queensland writer David Burton’s The Good Dad shares the story of a young father suddenly left at home with his two young daughters, in a brutally honest portrayal of the grind of modern parenting. Burton is a previous winner of the Prize in 2007, for The Estimator.

Sydney-based Jordan Shea’s Malacañang Made Us follows two Filipino brothers separated in 1986 amid Ferdinand Marcos’ 21-year dictatorship and their reunion nearly 40 years later in Australia.

Also Sydney-based, Steve Rodgers’ The Future is History, set over one night, tells of a mother chasing a dream for her daughter and the lengths she will go to ensure she has a better life. Rodgers’ play The Pool is about...