Nominees announced for the inaugural Women's Prize for Playwriting

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The shortlist has been revealed for the 1st Annual Women's Prize for Playwriting. 35 works were selected from a total of 1,169 submissions. The winner will be announced sometime in the autumn with an exact date yet to be confirmed.


## First-ever Women's Prize for Playwriting to announce winner this autumn! Founded by **Paines Plough** and **Ellie Keel Productions** with **45North** in association with [**Sonia Friedman Productions**](https://www.londontheatredirect.com/tickets/sonia-friedman-productions), the new awards ceremony called for texts over 60 minutes in length to be submitted free of charge with a total of 1,169 playwrights reaching out. The judging panel for selecting the winner features actress and playwright **Maxine Peake** (*Beryl;* *Black Mirror* episode "Metalhead"), playwright and screenwriter **Tanika Gupta**, LAMDA Artistic Director **Sarah Frankcom**, BAFTA Award-winning actress **Monica Dolan** (Rosemary West on *Appropriate Adult*, 2011; *King Lear* and *The Seagull* on stage opposite **Ian McKellen**), playwright **Ella Hickson**, theatre producer and former executive producer of the Donmar Warehouse **Kate Pakenham**, and Kiln Theatre's artistic director **Indhu Rubasingham**. The panel is chaired by literary agent **Mel Kenyon**. Anyone at least 16 years of age who is a legal resident of the UK and Ireland and who identifies as female is eligible to enter in the contest. The first prize winner with the winning piece will receive a £12,000 monetary prize in respect of an exclusive option for the lead producers of the Prize to co-produce the winning play. **Ellie Keel Productions** stated: "*The 35 plays on our shortlist are irrefutable proof of the exceptional quality of women's writing for the stage. The authors range from first-time, unproduced playwrights to experienced writers with prestigious credits. The plays themselves are brilliantly diverse in subject matter, size and style. We will be compiling a catalogue of these plays on The Women's Prize for Playwriting website to act as a resource for directors, producers, programmers and other creatives, as each of these plays deserves to have a future life.*" ### First Annual Women's Prize for Playwriting 2020 shortlist of nominees in full In alphabetical order by title, the nominees are: *A Rat, A Rat* by **Chloe Yates** *...blackbird hour* by **Babirye Bukilw** *Colostrum* by **Olivia Hennessy** *Contact Centre* by **Victoria Barclay** *Core* by **Jennifer Lunn** *Deepa the Saint* by **Sonali Bhattacharyya** *Everything Must Go* by **Caitlin McEwan** *EZRA* by **Stella Green** *Fly Home Butterfly* by **Tife Kusoro** *Full English* by **Silva Semerciyan** *Giddyup's Way* by **Ciara Cassoni** *happy sad virginia!* by **Deborah Acheampong** *How the Dodo Died and Other Stories* by **Jenny Knotts** *Leaving Eden* by **Sophia Chetin-Leuner** *Kelp* by **Gaia Sorcha Fenn** *My Brother's Keeper* by **Kim Taylor** *PARADISE STREET* by **Chino Odimba** *Reasons You Should(n't) Love Me* by **Amy Trigg** *Red Sky at Night* by **Eve Leigh** *Savage* by **Jane Bodie** *Smethwick* by **Yolanda Mercy** *Static* by **Saskia Livingstone** *SUPER BLOOD WOLF MAN* by **Alice Allemano** *The Credibility Assessment* by **Amanda Wilkin** *THE ESTATE* by **Shaan Sahota** *The Good People* by **Camilla Whitehill** *The Sub-Let Next to Heaven* by **Madeleine Accalia** *The Swell* by **Isley Lynn** *The Virgins* by **Miriam Battye** *This Might Not Be It* by **Sophia Leuner** *We'll Be Who We Are* by **Naomi Obeng** *WHAT YOU DO WITH THE DEAD IS YOU BURY THEM* by **Selma Dimitrijevic** *When the Sea Swallows Us Whole* by **Natasha Collie** *White Tuesday* by **Eve Leigh** *YOU BURY ME* by **Ahlam**
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By Nicholas Ephram Ryan Daniels

Ephram is a jack of all trades and enjoys attending theatre, classical music concerts and the opera.