The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2025 has unveiled its longlist of 41 outstanding new scripts, chosen from a record-breaking 1,275 submissions. Produced by Ellie Keel Productions and Paines Plough, the prize continues to champion exceptional female and non-binary playwrights across the UK and Ireland.
Alongside the longlist announcement, organisers have introduced Future Light, a new talent development initiative designed to nurture longlisted writers. Supported by Arts Council England, Future Light offers one-on-one dramaturgical guidance, writing workshops led by some of the UK’s most acclaimed playwrights, and an industry-focused Futures Day in Spring 2026.
Now in its sixth year, the Women’s Prize for Playwriting has become one of the UK’s most important literary awards for theatre. It aims to elevate underrepresented voices and ensure their stories reach national stages. The winner, selected by a judging panel chaired by Indhu Rubasingham, Director of the National Theatre, will receive £20,000 and the option for a full co-production with Ellie Keel Productions, Paines Plough, and Sheffield Theatres.
Founder Director Ellie Keel and Literary Manager Charlie Coulthard praised this year’s entries, calling them “extraordinary in range and ambition,” while Paines Plough’s Joint Artistic Director Katie Posner described reading the submissions as “a joy” that showcased “a breathtaking range of human experience.”
Previous winners, including Amy Trigg (Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me), Ahlam (You Bury Me), and Karis Kelly (Consumed), have gone on to critically acclaimed national runs. The most recent winner, Sarah Grochala (Intelligence), is currently in development with Paines Plough.
The prize’s 2025 longlist reflects the creativity, diversity, and dynamism of British playwriting- and its future looks brighter than ever with initiatives like Future Light helping to pave the way for new voices in London theatre and beyond.
The longlist in full is:
- Wold Meteor by Kate Attwell
- Weeping Woman by Ellen Bannerman
- The Fingerprint Bureau by Sonali Bhattacharyya
- while we burn by Olga Braga
- An Effigy Burning in the Arctic by Mareth Burns
- HIDE AND SEEK WITH JIMMY LING by Naomi Sumner Chan
- Ordinary Time by Evie Chandler
- I LOVE STRANGERS by Nurit Chinn
- Hefted by Eireann Devlin
- Sapling by Georgina Duncan
- THE (YELLOW) WALLPAPER by Phoebe Eclair-Powell
- Fucking Jane Austen by Billie Esplen
- Froggy by Sasha Frost
- A Patent Lie by Sarah Jane Gordon
- Exceptional by Afsaneh Gray
- First Gravedigger by Kayleigh Mai Hinsley
- THREE BOYS by Danielle James
- Unbirth by Christy Ku
- Down Side Up by Mei Leng Yew
- Northern Folk by Natalia Lewis
- Witch Play by Cordelia Lynn
- A Straw House by Jane McCarthy
- Car Crash by Sarah Ann McCay
- Am I Next? by Rachel McKay
- We’re Gonna Kill Billy by Alex Medland
- To The Earth You Shall Return by Hannah Mirsky
- A to B by Tia-Renee Mullings
- Yes Chef by Laurie Ogden
- If The Sea Should Part by Chloe Palmer
- VENUS: The Body by Sadie Pearson
- A Bit Salty by Mwansa Phiri
- CROSSINGS by Hannah Salt
- Przewalski’s Horses by Silva Semerciyan
- A Search for the End by Stef Smith
- WHAT I THINK OF MY HUSBAND by Amy Tobias
- Slime by Rachel Tookey
- Belongings by Jane Upton
- Up in the Mango Trees by Britny Virginia
- THE ROOM by Manjinder Virk
- Wide Open Spaces by Jane Wainwright
- The Children of Glyndwr by Emily White
.png)
Comments