The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced this year’s finalists for the prestigious international playwriting award, now in its 47th year and the largest and oldest award recognizing women+ writers for plays of outstanding quality written for the English-speaking theatre.
The nine Finalists, chosen from over 200 plays, are:
Chris Bush (UK-) Otherland
Carys Coburn (Ireland) BÁN
Keiko Green (US) You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World
Haruna Lee (Taiwan-Japan-US) 49 Days
Isobel McArthur (UK-Scotland) The Fair Maid of the West
Suzie Miller (Australia-UK) Inter Alia
a.k. payne (US) Furlough’s Paradise
Else Went (US) An Oxford Man
Anna Ziegler (US) The Janeiad
The 2025 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize will announce the Winner at a celebration attended by writers, theatre artists, artistic leaders and supporters in New York City at Playwrights Horizons on March 10. The Winner will be awarded $25,000 and will also receive a signed and numbered print by renowned artist Willem de Kooning, created especially for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. A Special Commendation of $10,000 may be given at the discretion of the judges, and each Finalist will receive $5,000.
“We are thrilled to present the Prize at Playwrights Horizons, a theatre with a deep history and commitment to developing and producing brilliant new plays by women and non-binary writers,” remarked Prize Executive Director, Leslie Swackhamer. 2023 Winner Sarah Mantell’s In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot premiered there last Fall. This year’s exciting cohort of playwrights hails from all over the English-speaking world, and represents a vigorous diversity of voices, genre and subject matter. We can’t wait to celebrate and honor their work.”
Founded in 1978, the Prize is awarded annually to celebrate women+ who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre. Each year, over 400 theatres from North America, Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand and the UK serve as Source Theatres for the Prize. Over 500 plays have been honored as Finalists of the Prize and many have gone on to receive other top honors, including Olivier, Lilly, Evening Standard and Tony Awards for Best Play. Eleven Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist playwrights have subsequently won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. The Prize results in more productions of plays by women+ writers and fosters the interchange of plays between the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and other English-speaking countries.
Past Winners of the Prize include Annie Baker, Alice Birch, Benedict Lombe, Julia Cho, Caryl Churchill, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Katori Hall, Lucy Kirkwood, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, Dael Orlandersmith, Lucy Prebble, Sarah Ruhl, Paula Vogel, Wendy Wasserstein, Timberlake Wertenbaker and Cheryl West. Last year’s Winner, 1536 by Ava Pickett, will premiere in London this May directed by Lindsey Turner at the Almeida Theatre.
Judges for the 2025 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize are: Linda Cho (US) – Tony Award-winning costume designer; Jennifer Ehle(US) – Tony and BAFTA Award-winning actress; Nancy Medina (UK) – Artistic Director of the Bristol Old Vic; Mark Ravenhill (UK) – Acclaimed playwright; George Strus (US) – Founder, Breaking the Binary Theatre; and Indira Varma (UK) – Olivier Award-winning actress.
