London’s Trinity College has launched its third annual International Playwriting Competition, offering playwrights the chance to win up to £1,000 (€1,278) and a trip to London to see their play performed at the Unicorn Theatre.
All the top entries will be published in a collection of plays for young people and distributed internationally.
The competition aims to encourage the creation of new creative writing for young performers and audiences and is open to writers of any age, level or nationality.
Previous winners and runners-up have come from Australia, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, Malta and the UK.
Entries are accepted until September 7. The winning plays will be announced at the end of October, and will be performed as part of Trinity’s first ever International Festival of Playwriting and Performance in January.
John Gardyne, head of drama and performance at the college, explained that there had been a frustrating lack of material for schools and young drama groups to engage with, and Trinity aimed to change this through the competition.
“Children and teenagers have a huge capacity for imagination and creation, but when it comes to harnessing these talents on the school or drama club stage, there is little new material for teachers to choose from,” he said.
Briton Annie McCourt picked up the top prize in the Plays for Teenage Audiences category last year, with her play Moth to The Flame. The play begins as a straightforward bittersweet portrayal of first love between a city girl and country boy and moves artfully into a far darker story of betrayal.
It was performed at the Unicorn Theatre last January by two 15-year-old actors. McCourt said she was blown away by the experience of seeing her work on stage.
“They were absolutely fantastic – I was amazed by what they did with the play. Seeing my play being performed was a delight and a real high point in my career as a writer.”
Since last year, the competition includes a new category for Most Promising Young Playwrights (under 16), offering up to five prizes of £100 (€128).
The category was created to encourage younger students – who are already used to creative writing in the classroom – to develop the skill and to offer them an opportunity for their work to be recognised and performed. In 2011, over 200 entries were received from 20 countries in this category.
Entries to the International Playwriting Competition can be made online or by post.
For more information, call the Malta Centre for Drama on 2124 6619, or send an e-mail to trinityc@go.net.mt.
www.trinitycollege.co.uk/playwriting