Firstly- congratulations to everyone who wrote and submitted a script, including those who haven’t made it to the Longlist this year. We have huge respect and admiration for every single writer who has taken the time to tell their story, and who has been brave enough to share their work with us. Since the June 6th entry deadline we’ve been through a rigorous reading process to make it to the Longlist, which we’re delighted to announce below.

Everyone involved in the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting has the utmost respect for playwrights and wholeheartedly appreciate the tenacity and commitment the work demonstrates. Different plays reach different stages in our reading and consideration of the entries, but all of them are subjected to the same criteria and process. Throughout the process, the script remains anonymous. Therefore the intention is that the readers are assessing the submitted script only- not the writer’s identity, career or previous works. You can read more about this here: https://www.writeaplay.co.uk/how-do-i-enter/#section-reading-process

For the first time- the Longlist is 130 plays. This extended Longlist reflects the quality and creativity of the 2022 submitted plays, and our desire to offer robust and useful support to playwrights. All the longlisted writers will receive a full script report and ongoing digital marketing support. We will also make introductions to your regional producing theatres, and to directors who read for the Prize wherever possible.

Anonymity remains at the heart of the Prize and we go to great lengths to ensure that the identity of the playwright is not known by anyone who reads the script. Scripts are read by a large and varied panel of readers. It’s vital that anonymity is maintained throughout the judging process. If you see your title below do feel free to celebrate, but please don’t reveal the title of your script until the Oct 24th public shortlist announcement! On this date- the full reading process is complete.

We make this Longlist announcement publicly here to ensure communication is swift and co-ordinated- as many writers chose to enter with anonymised (and sometimes little checked email addresses)

The 2022 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting Longlist- alphabetically via script title 

Next steps

Please remember, if you are in the Longlist your play is also currently up for further reading and discussion for the Shortlist of top fifteen plays. Please don’t throw away your anonymity! We will be in touch with the Shortlist directly via telephone on MONDAY 3RD OCTOBER.

The Judges will receive the Shortlist of 15 plays and will meet on OCTOBER 20TH to deliberate. These shortlisted playwrights will not be announced until OCTOBER 24TH to allow for this last stage of the judging process to take place in total anonymity.

We will be in touch with all longlisted entrants via the email address supplied on submitting your script within 2022. We’ll provide a full script report to support the further life of your play- including responses, feedback and suggested directions and questions for a new draft of your script. These script reports are put together by a new phase of readers, with access to the comments of all previous readers. We’ll also seek to introduce you to any readers who would like to discuss your play further and offer ongoing digital marketing support. For writer based outside of London, we’ll look to introduce you to your regional producing theatres (where this is wanted by you) As the Royal Exchange Theatre is based in Manchester, we will also be in touch to meet any writers based in the North West ourselves.

We do not currently have the capacity to enter into any other correspondence about where your script reached in the reading process. We are unable to give feedback on scripts which did not make it into the Longlist, due to both the high number of entries we receive and our commitment to providing all feedback as a constructive and full newly developed script report to support writers with a next draft, or production.

For more questions, please see the FAQ’s or email bruntwood.prize@royalexchange.co.uk https://www.writeaplay.co.uk/how-do-i-enter/#section-faqs