The organisers of The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize have announced the date and judges for this year’s prestigious playwriting award.
The Prize, which is the largest and oldest international playwriting award recognising women+ writers for plays of outstanding quality written for the English-speaking theatre, will be presented on Monday 10 March 2025 at Playwrights Horizons in New York City.
This year the Prize is celebrating its 47th year.
The judging panel for the 2025 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize will be: 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.
Indira Varma is currently starring in the West End alongside Rami Malek in Oedipus at The Old Vic theatre in London; Linda Cho’s award-winning Broadway costumes for The Great Gatsby will be seen in London this spring when the show transfers to the London Coliseum; Mark Ravenhill’s new play Ben & Imo is transferring from the RSC to the Orange Tree Theatre in London this spring, running from 19 April 2025; and Nancy Medina recently won Best Director at the Black British Theatre Awards for Choir Boy.
The winner of the 2025 Prize will be awarded $25,000 and a special limited-edition piece of art created specifically for Winners and signed by Willem De Kooning. A Special Commendation of $10,000 may be given at the discretion of the judges, and each Finalist will receive $5,000. The finalists for this year’s Prize will be announced in early February.
Last year’s 2024 Prize went to Ava Pickett for her play, 1536; and other past winners include Annie Baker, Julia Cho, Caryl Churchill, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Katori Hall, Lucy Kirkwood, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, Dael Orlandersmith, Lucy Prebble, Wendy Wasserstein, Timberlake Wertenbaker and Cheryl West.
Founded in 1978, over 500 plays have been honoured as Finalists of the Prize and many have gone on to receive other top honours, 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.
Prize Executive Director Leslie Swackhamer said in a statement: “We are thrilled to announce this year’s panel of judges, who represent excellence in all areas of the theatre. Their expertise, talent and vision are central to our process of curating and celebrating the Prize’s incredible roster of playwrights.”
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