The Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize for Playwriting opens for entries

09 April, 2024

The Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize for Playwriting has been developed to discover and celebrate the best new scripts among Australian playwrights. The Prize invites playwrights to submit unproduced plays across two categories: 

  • Stage
  • Theatre for Young Audiences. 

The Prize is open to full and associate members. The most outstanding scripts across both categories will share in $60,000 in prize money, and their scripts will be made eligible for AWG's prestigious Pathways for Playwrights.
 
The Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize opens on 10 April and will close at 5pm (AEST) on Monday 3 June 2024.

For more information, see below or download the Information Kit. Please direct all enquiries about the Awards to [email protected].

THE PRIZE

The winner of the Stage Category and the winner of the Theatre For Young Audiences category will EACH:

  • receive $10,000 in prize money.
  • have their winning project inducted onto Pathways Showcase.

ENTRANT GUIDELINES

  • Open to current financial AWG Full and Associate Members. Membership must be valid at the time of entry and for the duration of the competition. 

  • AWG offers to waive the joining fee for new members joining to enter the Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize for Playwriting. To take advantage of this special offer, please email [email protected] by MONDAY 3 JUNE 2024. 

  • New members will need to join for a minimum of 12 months. 

ENTRY GUIDELINES 

  • Entries close 5pm 3 JUNE 2024 (AEST). 

  • Scripts must not have had their first professional production at the time of entry or be programmed for professional production. If the work was commissioned but cancelled or not programmed due to COVID-19, the entrant may include a short note stating when the play was intended to be programmed, by what company, and when it was cancelled. 

  • Entrants must own all the rights to the script being entered. If the work is an adaptation, you must have the right or be able to secure the right to adapt the underlying material on which the play is based, or the underlying material must be in the public domain. 

  • All entries for the Shane & Cathryn Brennan Prize for Playwriting are to be completed online, including uploading synopsis and script documents. 

  • Your synopsis and script should not include personal details, or any indication of funding or support previously received for script development. 

  • Scripts should be presented and formatted to industry standards. You can find Australian Plays’ suggested script layout here. Please note that entrants should not publish their name or any identifying details on their work. 

  • All instances of collaborations and authorship must be declared in the entry form. 

  • Co-writers are not required to be AWG Members.