Australian Film Institute Award for Best Screenplay
The Australian Film Institute Award for Best Screenplay was an award presented intermittently by the Australian Film Institute, for an Australian screenplay written directly for the screen or based on previously released or published material. It was handed out at the Australian Film Institute Awards, which are now the AACTA Awards after the establishment of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, by the AFI. The award was handed out from 1975-1977, 1980-1982, 1990-1992, and again in 2007; two separate awards were created for "Best Adapted Screenplay" and "Best Original Screenplay" and have been presented intermittently from 1978-1979, 1983-1989, 1993-2006, and then from 2008, onwards. The award was first presented at the 1974-75 awards as a film prize which included a cash reward of $A1000.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, films and screenwriters listed in bold, and in a blue background have received the special award; those listed in boldface and highlighted in gold are the winners of the competitive awards. Films and screenwriters that are not in boldface or highlighted are the nominees.| Year | Film | Screenwriter |
| 1974-75 | Petersen | David Williamson |
| 1976 | The Devil's Playground | Fred Schepisi |
| 1976 | The Trespassers | John Duigan |
| 1976 | Picnic at Hanging Rock | Cliff Green |
| 1976 | Caddie | Joan Long |
| 1977 | Don's Party | David Williamson |
| 1977 | Storm Boy | Sonia Borg |
| 1977 | The Fourth Wish | Michael Craig |
| 1977 | The Picture Show Man | Joan Long |
| 1980 | Breaker Morant | Jonathan Hardy, David Stevens and Bruce Beresford |
| 1980 | Hard Knocks | Hilton Bonner and Don McLennan |
| 1980 | ...Maybe This Time | Anne Brooksbank and Bob Ellis |
| 1980 | Stir | Bob Jewson |
| 1981 | Gallipoli | David Williamson |
| 1981 | Hoodwink | Ken Quinnell |
| 1981 | The Club | David Williamson |
| 1981 | Winter of Our Dreams | John Duigan |
| 1982 | Goodbye Paradise | Bob Ellis and Denny Lawrence |
| 1982 | Lonely Hearts | Paul Cox and John Clarke |
| 1982 | Moving Out | Jan Sardi |
| 1982 | We of the Never Never | Peter Schreck |
| 1990 | The Big Steal | David Parker |
| 1990 | Blood Oath | Denis Whitburn and Brian A. Williams |
| 1990 | Golden Braid | Paul Cox and Barry Dickins |
| 1990 | Struck by Lightning | Trevor Farrant |
| 1991 | Proof | Jocelyn Moorhouse |
| 1991 | A Woman's Tale | Paul Cox and Barry Dickins |
| 1991 | Death in Brunswick | John Ruane and Boyd Oxlade |
| 1991 | Spotswood | Max Dann and Andrew Knight |
| 1992 | Strictly Ballroom | Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce |
| 1992 | Black Robe | Brian Moore |
| 1992 | Greenkeeping | David Caesar |
| 1992 | The Last Days of Chez Nous | Helen Garner |
| 2007 | The Home Song Stories | Tony Ayres |
| 2007 | Clubland | Keith Thompson |
| 2007 | Lucky Miles | Helen Barnes and Michael James Rowland |
| 2007 | Noise | Matthew Saville |
| 2007 | Romulus, My Father | Nick Drake |