Kings Cross Award
The King's Cross Award for New Writing 2011
The Courtyard is delighted to announce that the 6th King's Cross Award for New Writing was formally launched on 1st March 2011, and entries will be accepted between now and the closing date 1st September 2011.
The Award, which is open to writers of all levels of experience resident in the UK or Republic of Ireland, seeks imaginative, original work which explores the unique possibilities of writing for the stage.
Thanks largely to the commitment of the Courtyard's Artistic director, June Abbott, to promoting new writing, the Award has grown since its inception in 2003 from a modest local contest with only 27 entries to one of Britain's key national new writing competitions. In 2005, the Award received nearly 300 entries and this increased to 400 in 2007.
The Award is now biennial, rather than annual, and the winning playwright will be awarded with a £4,000 cash price. The winning play will be presented as a stage rehearsal reading.
Our Award panel in previous years has included such prestigious individuals as noted playwrights Debbie Isitt, Robin Soans and Mark Ravenhill, the National Theatre's literary manager Jack Bradley, leading theatre critic Aleks Sierz, and Nick Quinn from top literary agents The Agency.
A previous dramaturg said " We want to bring the work of the top-class writers whom we are now attracting to the attention of more directors, writers and literary managers and offer a prize which will help them with their long-term career development."
Several winning and shortlisted writers from previous years have gained a literary agent as a direct result of their involvement in the contest, and several of their plays have since been mounted in London and beyond. Additionally, a book of audition speeches, compiled from outstanding entries to previous years' Awards, is currently being planned.
Entries may be sent, marked "King's Cross Award 2011" and accompanied by a £10 entry fee (made payable to The Courtyard) and a large SAE for return of script, to:
THE COURTYARD THEATRE, BOWLING GREEN WALK, 40 PITFIELD STREET, LONDON, N1 6EU
Please note that telephone calls or enquiries regarding The Kings Cross New Writing Award 2011 will not be accepted.
Press Enquiries: info@thecourtyard.org.uk
Guidelines for Entry:
(For full competition rules and conditions see www.thecourtyard.org.uk)
Up to two full-length plays may be entered per writer
(no e-mail entries, no radio-plays or TV scripts)
Unpublished and unperformed scripts only
The Entry Fee is £10 per play (payable to The Courtyard)
Plays must be typed or word-processed and clearly laid out with pages
Numbered
Title page must include writer's name and full contact details (including
e-mail address). PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY INFORMATION WHICH
COULD IDENTIFY THE WRITER ON ANY OTHER PAGE OF SCRIPT
Include two SAEs: one for acknowledgement of entry and one for return of
script (with correct postage)
Plays must be received by 1st September 2011
Please post entries, marked
KING'S CROSS AWARD 2011'
to
THE COURTYARD THEATRE
BOWLING GREEN WALK
40 PITFIELD STREET
LONDON N1 6EU
King's Cross Award 2009
The Kings Cross Award for New Writing is now a national platform for emerging playwrights and plays. Inthis, its sixth year, the judging panel selected for final consideration the work of six playwrights from an outstanding long list, they were:
2023 by Lisa Parry
Leopoldville by Jaqueline McCarrick
The Dealer of Ballynafeigh by Rosemary Jenkinson
Mother of Him by Evan Placey
Face The Camera and Smile by Dan Horrigan
Mish Gorecki Goes Missing by Skye Loneragan
All six works showed outstanding promise, but the overall winner is:
Mother of Him
by Evan Placey
The play was highly praised by the Competition's prestigious panel of:
Debbie Isitt, writer and film director; Robin Soans, Actor, playwright and writer;
Prof. Kenneth Pickering, writer, director and academic;
Philip Dart, Playwright and Artistic director of Chalkfoot Theatre Company
Nick Quinn, from top literary agents The Agency;
June Abbott, Artistic Director, The Courtyard Theatre; Louisa Fitzgerald, dramaturg.
"With a compelling story-line and well drawn, characters, Placey captures the complicated dynamic of a mother-son relationship"
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