The Women’s Prize for Playwriting, produced by Ellie Keeland Paines Plough, today announces its return for 2025. This year sees the largest ever prize fund for WPP with a first prize of £20,000. The judging panel for this year’s Prize will be chaired once again by incoming Director and Co-Chief Executive of the National Theatre Indhu Rubasingham.
Launched in 2019, the Prize celebrates and supports exceptional female and non-binary playwrights, and campaigns for their plays to be presented on national stages in the UK and Ireland. The Prize is for a full-length play (defined as over 60 minutes in length), written in English. The First Prize-winning play receives £20,000 in respect of an option for Ellie Keel Productions, Paines Plough and Sheffield Theatres to co-produce the play. The prize is sponsored by Samuel French Ltd, a Concord Theatricals company, who are the official publishing partner of the prize.
Sheffield Theatres is announced as ‘Theatre Partner’ for the 2025 Prize. Created with Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Elizabeth Newman, this partnership means that Sheffield Theatres will have first right of refusal to co-produce the world premiere of the prize’s winning play.
Chaired by Indhu Rubasingham, the judging panel will also include Producer at Wessex Grove Emily Vaughan-Barratt, directors Milli Bhatia and Alice Hamilton, actress Romola Garai, Literary Agent Mel Kenyon, Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic Nancy Medina, the National Theatre’s Director of New Work Nina Steiger, and Guardian Editor-in-Chief
Katharine Viner.
Also announced today The Women’s Prize for Playwriting has become a registered charity, and Charlie Coulthard will become Literary Manager.
Ellie Keel, Founder Director of The Women’s Prize for Playwriting, today said, “I'm thrilled that the Women's Prize for Playwriting is returning in a bigger and bolder form than ever, with a significant increase in prize money and our first Theatre Partnership with the brilliant Sheffield Theatres. These developments will allow WPP to build on our track record of creating tangible and lasting change, not only for the careers of our winning playwrights but within the theatre industry as a whole. I'm delighted that Indhu Rubasingham is continuing as Chair of our exceptional judging panel, whose difficult task it will be to choose one winner in autumn 2025! This year we also took the step of becoming a registered charity to help secure the Prize's future for many years to come, driving change and championing equality in the historically male-dominated theatre industry.”
Katie Posner and Charlotte Bennett, Joint Artistic Directors of Paines Plough, added “It’s a huge honour, in our 50th birthday year, to be announcing the fourth year of this playwriting prize with Ellie Keel. Since 2019 we’ve been consistently blown away reading so many thrilling plays, and we’re ready to be blown away once again. It is a privilege and a joy to lead this prize with Ellie and we can’t wait to now also work alongside the powerhouse that is Sheffield Theatres to discover and nurture more female and non-binary playwrights. Our continued work with the prize will set the tone for the next 50 years of Paines Plough’s work: to fight for playwrights, for new writing, and for representation in the voices on stages around the country. We can’t wait to get reading!”
Elizabeth Newman, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, commented “I am thrilled we are becoming the Theatre Partner of The Women’s Prize for Playwriting. Sheffield Theatres has a long-standing reputation for being committed to producing exceptional new work and, as I begin my tenure as Artistic Director, I want to make it clear that we will continue this mission and develop our reputation of being an exciting place that fosters exceptional talent. As we begin to write the next chapter for Sheffield Theatres, we will focus on discovering, developing, and celebrating outstanding new plays written by women and non-binary playwrights. Being part of the Prize offers us the opportunity to play a crucial role in addressing gender disparities in theatre by offering tangible support and recognition to those whose voices have been historically marginalised. Furthermore, and importantly, we aim to produce the winning play at Sheffield Theatres because, to make a lasting difference to the momentum of a writer’s career (and to raise the profile of women and non-binary playwrights), plays need to be put to an audience. This is the best way for a dramatist to learn and grow. The Women’s Prize led by Ellie, Katie and Charlotte has achieved incredible things since it was launched and I cannot wait for Sheffield Theatres to join this incredible endeavour. I am also very excited to share news soon of our first co-production.”
Vivien Goodwin, Senior Vice President of Concord Theatricals, also said “We're thrilled that the awards are going from strength-to-strength and are becoming vital in cultivating and elevating women's voices. We're honoured to continue being the Prize's publishing and licensing partner and look forward to supporting these exciting, bold, and unique pieces into the future. I'm fascinated to see what this year brings!"
Submissions will open on Monday 13 January and close on Tuesday 22 April. More information on the award can be found at womensprizeforplaywriting.co.uk.
