The Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize provide a great platform for new comedy plays and writers across the UK. To qualify for the prize, scripts must be original, unperformed and funny!

The Prize is judged anonymously, meaning the reading and judging panels do not know the identities of the writers until a winner has been chosen.

Since 2015, The Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize success stories include winners and highly commended writers who go on to have their plays commissioned at theatres and auditoriums across the UK.

The competition is a collaboration between the University and Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre. The fee to enter is £20.

SCRIPT GUIDANCE

• Genre: The play should have comedy at its heart, and clearly exemplify the comedy genre.
• Length: The script should be full-length, i.e. over eighty minutes running time. The text should clearly indicate the intention to have an interval.
• Cast: No more than eight actors.
• The play must be written in the English language.
• Co-authored work: The Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize is happy to accept co-authored work but this should be submitted under one name following the rules of anonymous submission as stipulated and with the agreement of all co-authors. By submitting, all co-authors agree to and are bound by these terms and conditions and each co-author will be required, if requested by the University, to provide direct confirmation that they agree to these terms and conditions.
• Plays submitted must be the work of the person submitting, and be original, unpublished and professionally unperformed (‘professionally unperformed’ indicates when a production has been performed by a professional company paid at Equity rates).
• Copyright: By submitting a script to this competition, the playwright (and his or her co-authors) warrants that she/he has exclusive ownership of the copyright and moral rights over the work submitted and that it is available for immediate production. The play must not contain or infringe any material that is owned or has been created by another person/s.

ELIGIBILITY

• The competition is open to anyone resident in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, British Overseas Territory or with a British Forces Post Office address who is 18 years of age or over on the date of submission of their entry.
• Submitted scripts must not have been professionally performed (meaning when a production has been performed by a professional company paid at Equity rates) or produced
• Scripts must not be under option by any other theatre or production company/ agent.
• Genre: The play must be considered a comedy by the panel of readers to be eligible to win a prize.
• There is no age limit.
• There is no minimum or maximum level of experience required to enter. All you need is a story.
• Plays submitted to the prize in previous years are not eligible to be resubmitted.
• You may submit more than one play if you wish
• Anonymity & Exclusivity: All plays will be judged as anonymous entries, and entrants are therefore prohibited from promoting in any way their submitted script during the reading and judging process. The script must not be submitted to any other competitions, theatres or third parties during this period. Once a script is excluded from the process, it is released from this clause.
• Withdrawing: If you wish to withdraw your script from the competition at any point, please notify us by emailing pwprize@hope.ac.uk. All withdrawals are final. Entry fees will not be refunded.

Deadline 

3o June 2021