Awards
At Theatre Centre we run and administer a series of national awards celebrating and recognising the great playwriting and acting talents in the field of Young People’s Theatre.
'Thank you to Theatre Centre for this incredibly generous award which will give me the time to write something else which is the most amazing thing for a writer. Thank you mainly to the young people who sat there with me and told me their stories.'
Evan Placey, Brian Way Award Winner 2012
'Winning the Brian Way Award for me was a great boost. Thank you to Theatre Centre for continuing to run this important Award.'
Keith Saha, Brian Way Award Winner 2011
Theatre Centre’s 2013 awards are currently accepting entries
Theatre Centre invites applications to its two key prizes, the Brian Way Award for Best New Play and the Adrienne Benham Award.
If you're interested in Theatre Centre's awards, you might also be interested in our June 20 conference on new writing for young audiences.
BRIAN WAY AWARD 2013: Accepting submissions
Prize: £6,000
Deadline: 31 May 2013 at 12 noon
To promote and celebrate the achievements of playwrights who write for young audiences, Theatre Centre runs the Brian Way Award for the best new play for children and young people.
The prize money is intended to give the winner the time and space to develop a new play without the pressure of deadlines or a commissioning brief.
This year’s award is for a new play which was professionally produced between 1 October 2011 and 31 January 2013. The winner of the award will be expected to undertake an ambassadorial role for Theatre Centre.
Applications may come from the writer, the writer’s representative or the producing company.
Further information:
- Download and read the award criteria
- Download and complete the application form
- Submit (by post) all of the requested materials in advance of the 31 May deadline
If you require further information, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Previous winners of the Brian Way Award*
- 2012 Evan Placey for Holloway Jones (Synergy Theatre Company)
- 2011 Keith Saha for Ghost Boy (20 Stories High)
- 2010 Laurence Wilson for Blackberry Trout Face (20 Stories High)
- 2009 Douglas Maxwell for The Mothership (Birmingham Repertory Theatre)
- 2008 David Greig for Yellow Moon (TAG)
- 2008 Fin Kennedy (runner-up) for Locked In (Half Moon Theatre Company)
- 2007 Tim Crouch for Shopping for Shoes (National Theatre Education Department)
- 2007 Deborah Gearing (runner-up) for Burn (Shell Connections)
- 2006 Neil Duffield for The Lost Warrior (Dukes Theatre, Lancaster)
- 2005 Abi Bown for Hey There Boy with the Bebop (Polka Theatre)
- 2004 Charles Way for Red Red Shoes (Unicorn Theatre)
- 2003 Phil Porter for Smashed Eggs (Pentabus Theatre)
- 2002 Brendan Murray for Eliza’s House (Royal Exchange)
- 2001 Mike Kenny for Stepping Stones (Interplay)
*funded by Arts Council England 2001-2007
ADRIENNE BENHAM AWARD 2013: Accepting applications
Prize: £2,000 seed commission and attachment
Deadline: 7 June 2013 at 12 noon
Theatre Centre offers the Adrienne Benham Award, a £2,000 seed commission, to support the work of a promising playwright interested in exploring the Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) sector to develop brilliant new plays for young people, but who has little experience in this field.
This award is intended to steer gifted writers towards young audiences by giving them a seed commission and attachment to Theatre Centre to develop an original idea for young audiences.
Applications may come from the writer or the writer’s representative.
Further information:
- Download and read the award criteria
- Download, complete and submit the application form
- Submit (by post) all of the requested materials in advance of the 7 June deadline
Previous winners include Kenneth Emson (2012), Marcelo Dos Santos (2011), Paula B. Stanic (2010) and Steven Bloomer (2009).
2012 event photos: Camilla Greenwell