The shortlist has been announced for the 2017 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, hosted biennially at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre.
The ten shortlisted scripts were selected from 1,898 entries all competing for a total prize fund of £40,000 plus the opportunity to be developed with the Royal Exchange.
The shortlisted plays and playwrights are Alan McKendrick for Oh Graveyard, You Can't Hold Me Always, Archie Maddocks for A Place For We, Daniel Foxsmith for Pumpjack, Joshua Val Martin for This Is Not America, Kevin Doyle for when after all it was you and me (or the genocide play), Laurie Nunn for King Brown, Rebecca Callard for A Bit Of Light, Sharon Clark for Plow, Tim Foley for Electric Rosary and Timothy X Atack for Heartworm.
There has been a change to the judging panel, with Don Warrington dropping out due to rehearsal commitments to be replaced by fellow actor Alfred Enoch. Warrington will join Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones to be given the title "Bruntwood Prize Ambassador".
The rest of the panel comprises broadcaster and journalist Kirsty Lang, screenwriter Russell T Davies, previous Bruntwood winner Phil Porter, stage and screen writer Lucy Prebble, director Lyndsey Turner, Royal Exchange Theatre Associate Artistic Director, Matthew Xia and Chairman of Bruntwood, Michael Oglesby CBE.
The winners will be announced during a ceremony at the theatre on Monday 13 November 2017.