Was it beginner's luck, or natural talent which led to Owain Johnston becoming the 2008 winner of the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society's annual playwriting competition, 'Famous for 15 Minutes'? Judge Jane McCulloch had no doubt it was talent.

"I immediately thought 'Inter-Mortem' was a very clever piece of comedy writing," she says. "The wonderful thing about Owain's play was that it was a totally original idea. It was very good comedy, which is almost more difficult to write than drama, tragedy or detective plays."

In commending Mr. Johnston for his comedic timing and facility for writing for theatre, Miss McCulloch points out that the latter is "very difficult, and technically completely different from writing novels, or journalism".

"To get comic timing and lines that work with an audience is really gratifying when it happens. Writing comedy is a matter of having an ear. It struck me immediately on reading Owain's play, and it had me laughing out loud."

In fact, the British judge found it so funny that she knocked over her cup of coffee, and jests that if it had gone into her laptop she would have charged Mr. Johnston for a new one.

That it didn't is a blessing because the budding playwright is still a student who is in his final year of a Communications degree programme at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, where he is majoring in journalism, with minors in theatre and creative writing.

The plot for 'Inter-Mortem' arose out of a light-hearted discussion between Mr. Johnston and his college room mate about reincarnation.

"We were just joking around and having fun, so I started to write this little play about Eric, who dies and is met in the afterlife waiting room by the mean-spirited, self-righteous concierge," he says. "I wrote it not knowing how it was going to end, but after a couple of hours it was, 'Oh, okay, I guess that's the end'. Then I went back and inserted a little bit of morality here and there, and after that, there was a lot of re-checking and re-drafting. I first did a read for my room mate and he thought it was hilarious, but it was 25 minutes long, so we ended up cutting out a lot of fat."

Like most writers, Mr. Johnston always sees room for improvement in his work, and is forever tweaking it for various reasons. In fact, his winning play was originally written two years ago, and was "one of those things that you keep, go through every once in a while, blow the cobwebs off, and see what's there".

Ironically, 'Inter-Mortem' was originally written for two men, but due to casting difficulties, Mr. Johnston had to re-write it for two women instead, and now says he likes it better — which differs slightly from the judge's opinion.

Having attended a performance of 'Famous for 15 Minutes' plays some years ago, the winner says he enjoyed it so much that he thought, "I could do this," but in the interim, the competition rules changed, and submissions were only allowed if the contestants were on-Island for the final night performances.

This year Mr. Johnston qualified, so he decided to submit his play, reasoning that while Will Ferrell movies never won Academy Awards, perhaps he might be among the finalists, in which case people would see it and laugh, and he would be quite happy with that.

At the auditions, he took stock of the competition and decided that he wasn't at the same level, so he felt that any hopes of winning were dashed. Fast forward to the final, gala night. Daylesford Theatre is packed to capacity, and beside him sits his mother, Suzanne Holshouser. The audience is clearly loving the play, and it is getting a lot of laughs, as it has done all week.

"There is nothing quite like getting the reaction you are looking for," Mr. Johnson says. "I thought, 'This is good, people are watching it — but I still don't think it's a winner'."

When the plays were done, judge McCulloch called each of the finalists to the stage, commented positively on their work, and presented them with a framed, commemorative photo of the cast and director — in Mr. Johnston's case, Paige Hallett, Emily Ross and Bob Duffy, respectively — following which they returned to their seats.

Who would win the coveted Golden Inkwell?

"I was talking to my mother, and Jane gave a little speech, halfway through which, when she said, 'What really made this one different was that it was so inventive, and the comedic timing...' I thought, 'It might be me'. Then, all of a sudden I brought my hands to my face and said, 'Oh god, it is me!' I got my trophy, and had to give a little speech. I remember I was nice enough to thank Bob, the actresses, and BMDS as a whole, but not much else."

As for the future, Mr. Johnston (currently a summer student at The Royal Gazette, and whose father, Christopher, was formerly an assistant editor of this newspaper) is still weighing his options.

"Journalism is what I am definitely running towards, and I hope to come back to The Royal Gazette," he says."I want to write. If it is journalism, that's great. If I can work out how to do playwriting or fiction, I will head in that direction."