The newly created Lieutenant-Governor's Daryl Duke Award for Screenwriting will honour the legacy of a Canadian film titan.
The annual juried awards, with two prizes of up to $12,500 each, will acknowledge the achievements of established film and television screenwriters living in British Columbia.
Duke, an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who worked for almost every Hollywood studio and major television network, is best known for directing the blockbuster miniseries The Thorn Birds. He launched two Vancouver television stations and was a vocal proponent of strong regional programming. He died last fall, at the age of 77.
The inaugural winners of the award, sponsored by British Columbia Film and supported by the B.C. Chapter of the Directors Guild of Canada, with individual donations contributed in Duke's memory, will be announced on May 30.