"Europe's biggest playwriting competition" has opened submissions for its 20th anniversary prize with a prize pot of £50,000 and a top prize of £20,000, with a Judges Award of £10,000, an International Award of £10,000 and the North West Original New Voice Award of £10,000, the latter also including a funded year-long residency at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.
Journalist and broadcaster Naga Munchetty is Chair of the judging panel, also comprising award-winning theatre-maker, director and producer and newly appointed Creative Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre Selina Cartmell, previous Bruntwood Prize winner Pheobe Eclair-Powell, award-winning playwright and director Conor McPherson, international award-winning director and Artistic Director of London’s Kiln Theatre Amit Sharma actors, Shobna Gulati and Cherylee Houston and Munya Chawawa, a BAFTA-nominated broadcaster, writer and comedian.
Munchetty said, "my longstanding relationship with the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, which began when I hosted the award ceremony in 2017, is incredibly special to me. I am thrilled to be Chair of the judging panel as it celebrates its twentieth year of championing vibrant new work. New writing is vital to the ecosystem of theatre, and everyone has a unique and exciting story to tell—I can't wait to get reading."
The competition opened for submissions on 9 September and will close on 9 January 2025. The longlist will be announced on 17 April 2025 and the shortlist in June, with the winning plays announced at the 2025 Awards Ceremony on 21 July in Manchester.