Today the Royal Court announces the brand-new Young Playwrights Award, a call-out for all 13 – 18 year olds living or studying in London, culminating in a festival of professional performances of the winning plays at the Royal Court in July 2025. With this award, the Royal Court hopes to introduce playwriting to young people as both a new creative development opportunity and a potential future career.
Beth Flintoff, Associate Playwright and Young Writers Associate at the Royal Court, said, “There are so many incredible voices out there that we never hear onstage, because playwriting is not part of the curriculum, and rarely mentioned to young people.
We’re passionate that young people from all over the country should tell their stories. We’re starting this pilot project in London but we hope it soon spreads to become a national event in the future.
To any young Londoner out there, we’re standing by. We can’t wait to read what you have to say.”
The submissions window will be open from 24 March – 2 May 2025. All plays submitted will be read by the Royal Court’s world-class artistic team, and all applicants are guaranteed to receive feedback on their plays. Shortlisted and winning plays will be announced in June 2025. Winning plays will receive a staged, script-in-hand performance as part of the July festival, by a team of professional actors and directors, as well as a free e-book and limited edition print run with award partner Nick Hern Books, and a trophy presented as part of a prize-giving event at the Royal Court on 12 July 2025.
Alongside this award, the Royal Court announces the launch of a six-part video series, to be released in February 2025 in the run-up to the opening of the application window for the award. In each episode, a professional playwright will provide advice, tips and exercises for a different aspect of playwriting, to give young people the tools to start writing their own play. These free-to-access videos can be watched in classrooms, in groups or individually, with an offer of support and guidance for teachers and facilitators to run their own playwriting clubs.
In Spring 2025, the Royal Court will also deliver in-person workshops and masterclasses with professional playwrights who have had their plays on at the Royal Court, visiting 20 schools and youth groups across London.
