The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is the UK’s biggest national competition for playwriting. It is the search for great new plays and great writers. We look for scripts that are original and unperformed, by writers of any experience.


Repost- Chris Thorpe – Writing Collaboratively, Writing for Performance, Performing your Work

  This workshop took place in April 2017 Playwright and theatre maker Chris Thorpe will explore how to break the rules through non-naturalistic writing, collaborative writing…

Tim Foley Development Diary 2: Nose Job

Playwright Tim Foley won a Bruntwood Prize Judges Award in 2017 for his play ELECTRIC ROSARY. As well as the £8,000 prize money, Tim has been developing the play…

Rebecca Callard- On her 2017 Commendation

First time playwright Rebecca Callard won a Commendation for her Bruntwood Prize shortlisted play A BIT OF LIGHT. As well as winning £4,000 A BIT…

The Bruntwood Prize in Australia

Following their first UK productions we’ve seen many of the Bruntwood Prize winning plays go on to see international productions all over the world- from…
The reason I am making a living as a writer is all down to Bruntwood. Winning Bruntwood gave me confidence and validation that people were interested in what I had to say. Anna Jordan
The financial prize allowed me to give up my full time job and focus solely on writing… That has been the real life change. The Bruntwood Prize is a game changer. Chris Urch
Winning the prize has made me a writer Vivienne Franzmann
It's not an exaggeration to say that winning a Bruntwood Judges Prize changed my life. It gave me the time, money and - crucially - support both to develop my play and to push my writing to new places. Winning the prize is nice - but what it’s what comes after that proves what an incredible opportunity it is. James Fritz
For me, the award meant a few things all at the same time; recognition that I’d written an interesting play; the chance to build a relationship with the Royal Exchange; cash. I’m gutted I’m not allowed to enter again. Alan Harris
The Bruntwood Prize helped me make the transition to a full time writer. I’m proud to be part of the Prize’s history and hope it continues for years to come. Alistair McDowall
It's true legacy is that for the first time the imposter syndrome megaphone that constantly sits on my shoulder is muffled, that I am braver in the building of worlds, stories and structures I use in my scripts, I lean into the work a little closer, a little harder and I now fully own what it is that I have always wanted to do. Sharon Clark
When I wrote WISH LIST, I was certain it would never to performed. Getting shortlisted, and then winning was so strange and wonderful that I still can't believe it really happened. Seeing a full play of mine onstage for the first time has helped me improve as a writer in a way I would have struggled to do otherwise Katherine Soper
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