This award was established in 2013, via the Victoria University Foundation, in memory of renowned New Zealand film director Brad McGann, who died in 2007. McGann won international acclaim for his first full-length feature film, In My Father's Den, which he wrote and directed. He was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006.

Funds for this award were donated by his friends, family, and colleagues and by the New Zealand Film Commission. The award aims to support a new graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at Victoria University of Wellington to do further work on a film script.

The recipient will be chosen by the Michael Hirschfeld Director of Scriptwriting in consultation with the Head of the International Institute of Modern Letters.

The recipient will be asked to write a letter of appreciation, which will be forwarded to the donors.

$3,000 (subject to available funds)

No application required

The award will be made to a student who has just completed the MA in Creative Writing, majoring in Scriptwriting, and who, through their folio of work, demonstrates that they have excellent potential as a film scriptwriter.