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Dateline: 24th January, 2006

Plays, with two characters and no more than ten minutes long, must be based on this photograph.

The Westminster Prize

The deadline for the Westminster Prize, Soho Theatre's annual competition for aspiring local playwrights, is 13th February, with a workshop to inspire, advise and assist on 24 January. The Westminster Prize is for first time writers with no experience necessary and is open to anyone living, working or studying in Westminster.

Inspired by the photograph on the right, entrants are invited to submit a short play, approximately ten minutes long and containing no more than two characters. The photograph, rules and helpful hints are available to entrants at www.sohotheatre.com or by calling 020 7478 0114.

Soho Theatre's acting Artistic Director, Jonathan Lloyd, will lead a free workshop providing inspiration and advice to participants on 24th January from 7-9pm. Workshop places are limited and should be reserved on 0870 429 6883.

A panel of theatre professionals will read and assess every play submitted, creating a shortlist from which the judges will select a winner and two runners-up. The winning playwrights receive theatre tokens and their plays will be performed by professional actors at Soho Theatre on 16th March.

The Westminster Prize 2005 was awarded to student and former Westminster employee James Pearson (working at the Wallace Collection) for his play Dogman. James and his fellow Westminster Prize 2005 nominee Molly Davies are now both on Soho Theatre's Young Writers' Core Group.

Previous winners of the Westminster Prize include Peter Elkins (winner 2003), whose debut full-length play Judith Bloom was produced at Southwark Playhouse in June 2004, Suzy Almond (winner, 1997), whose School Play was produced at Soho Theatre in June 2001 and Darren Murphy (winner, 2001) who has had plays produced at the Union Theatre and the Arcola.

The Westminster Prize is supported by the City of Westminster and Getty Images.

The rules

• Playwrights with professional productions to their credit are ineligible.
• Entrants should either live, work or study in the borough of Westminster. If shortlisted, you will be asked for proof of this.
• Plays should be approximately ten minutes long, based upon the supplied photograph and contain only two characters (no more, no less).
• Plays must be original, written in English, unperformed and unencumbered by any third party rights.
• Plays must be clearly typed ot neatly handwritten. Soho Theatre is not liable for any loss or damage to submitted scripts.
• Plays must have a title page that states the name of the play and the author's name and address. Please enclose two Stamped Addressed Envelopes, one for an acknowledgement letter and one for the rturn of the script.
• The judges' decision is final and no correspondance concerning the result can be entered into.
• The closing date for recipt is 13th February 2006.
• Scripts should be sent to: The Westminster Prize, Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE

The first prize is £150 in theatre tokens. Second prize is £100 in theatre tokens. Third prize is £50 in theatre tokens. The three winning plays will be performed at Soho Theatre.

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©Peter Lathan 2006