Sydney Theatre Company has announced the recipients of the 25th Patrick White Playwrights Award and Fellowship. Named by new Artistic Director Mitchell Butel last night, Sheridan Harbridge is the new Patrick White Playwrights Fellow and Karolina Ristevski has been awarded the Patrick White Playwrights Award for her work River Was Here.

 For the Fellowship, Harbridge is awarded $25,000 and will join STC for a year as she develops a new work for the company; Ristevski receives a $7,500 cash prize.

Sheridan Harbridge and Karolina Ristevski. Photo courtesy of Sydney Theatre Company

The award is an “opportunity to honour the bold voices that have carved out new paths in Australian theatre over the past quarter-century,” said Butel.

“[Harbridge and Ristevski’s] work continues Patrick White’s legacy of championing Australian storytelling, and I am eagerly awaiting to see how these extraordinary artists will continue shaping the theatrical landscape.”

Harbridge is an actor, writer and director whose works have been performed in the USA, Europe and across Oceania. Recently, she wrote and directed A Model Murder for the 2024 Sydney Festival and her adaptation of My Brilliant Career earned a four-and-a-half star Limelight review upon its debut with Melbourne...