Clubland written by Keith Thompson won the top prize, for 'Outstanding Australian Script', at this year's Australian Writers Guild Awards (the Awgies) which took place on Friday night.

The film also shared the award in the original feature film category along with another story about family - Tony Ayres' The Home Song Stories. The two films were nominated alongside Greg McLean's crocodile thriller Rogue and Matthew Saville's drama Noise.

Clubland and The Home Song Stories are both set in suburbia. Ayres' script is based on his own childhood as a migrant from Hong Kong with his beautiful, erratic mother (Joan Chen) and a succession of 'uncles'.

Thompson's film is the tale of a teenage boy (Khan Chittenden) finding love with Emma Booth, much to the horror of his domineering mother, a comedian on the club circuit (Brenda Blethyn). Showing as Introducing The Dwights in the US, the film was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it sold to distributors for $4m.

At home, both received qualified praise and box office was moderate: Clubland released June 28, and earned $A1.35m; Home Song Stories opened on August 23, and latest figures put it at just $111,282 on 22 screens.

Mark Rosenberg won the Awgie for Feature Film Adaptation. His screenplay for December Boys features Daniel Radcliffe. It premiers on September 9 in Melbourne, and in the UK and US on September 14.

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