The twelfth Papatango New Writing Prize has been won by Bosnian-born British playwright, Igor Memi, for Old Bridge.
The full-length play, in which he looks at true events that took place in his hometown of Mostar during the Yugoslavian civil war, is Memic's professional writing debut.
Old Bridge will have a full production at London's Bush Theatre when it reopens and the script will be published by Nick Hern Books. Memic will receive a royalty of 10% of the gross box office and a £6,500 commission for a new work.
Igor Memic said, “when the phone call came, I was in disbelief. I never thought a play like this could make the shortlist, let alone win. Writing Old Bridge has been one of the most painful and important experiences of my life. This was my excavation. My attempt at healing old wounds. I never realised how much it said about our world today until that world stopped spinning.”
The play came top from a record 1,504 submissions, which also saw Jon Bradfield's Animal (from a story by Jon Bradfield and Josh Hepple), Julia Grogan's Playfight, Sarah Connors's Pushing on Open Doors and Beru Tessema's Exile in North Weezy in the shortlist.