The winners of the scriptwriting competition Premju Francis Ebejer have been announced though the organisers lamented that entries are often not up to standard.

The winners of this year’s edition are Leanne Ellul with her work Ma Rridx Immur in the ‘Writing for the Theatre’ category (Category A). Vincent Vella won with his work Fuq il-Bjut in the ‘Writing of Radio Plays’ category (Category C).

The second prize in Category C went to Joe Friggieri with his work KM613 minn Ruma. Leanne Ellul will also be receiving a special mention. No scripts were submitted for Category B, ‘Writing for the theatre for children/teens’.

The winners were chosen from a total of 17 scripts; 13 entries were submitted for the category of ‘Writing for the Theatre’ (Category A) and four were submitted for the category of ‘Writing for the theatre for children/teens’ (Category C).

In a statement, the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts said that, often over the last few years, the submitted scripts failed to reach the required level. It therefore planned to restructure the competition to not only provide an incentive for writers to submit relevant and high-calibre works but also to contribute directly to the development of writers and their works.

The restructuring happens to coincide with the death of Mr Ebejer who is remembered for his avant-garde style of writing, which left a strong impact on his audiences and helped Maltese theatre make a leap ahead.

The chairman of this year’s judging panel was Dr Immanuel Mifsud, Prof. Mary Darmanin was vice-chair while Simon Bartolo, Dr Norbert Bugeja and Liliana Portelli were members.