The Women’s Prize for Playwriting, now in its third year, opens for submissions tomorrow, 16 January.
Produced by Ellie Keel and Paines Plough and sponsored by Samuel French Ltd, the Prize is open to playwrights identifying as female or non-binary.
This year’s judges are Kiln Theatre artistic director Indhu Rubasingham (in the chair), journalist Samira Ahmed, playwrights April de Angelis and Chris Bush, actor Noma Dumezweni, literary agent Mel Kenyon, journalist and critic Anya Ryan, head of play development at the National Theatre Nina Steiger and Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner.
From the finalists, they will award the £12,000 prize to the winner at a ceremony in December.
There were two prizes in its first year: Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me by Amy Trigg and You Bury Me by Ahlam, and Karis Kelly won the prize for Consumed the following year.
Submissions should be full-length (over one hour) plays written in English and made prior to the closing date of 17 April. Open Zoom sessions are to be held on 25 January and 22 February to answer questions from potential entrants.
Indhu Rubasingham said, “the panel will be choosing our winner in the knowledge that the play will be produced by the Women's Prize and Paines Plough, so our advice and encouragement to writers submitting to this prize is to write the play you wish you could go and see—the play you think the world needs!
"It's particularly lovely to become Chair given that the Kiln hosted the first ever production of a Women's Prize-winning play, Amy Trigg's Reasons You Should(n't) Love Me, just after lockdown ended in 2021. That was a fantastic collaboration and I'm so pleased we are able to continue it. I can't wait to read the final five plays later this year.”