The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2025 longlist announced

The Women’s Prize for Playwriting has announced the longlist for its 2025 awards.

The winners will be revealed at a ceremony in London in February 2026.

41 play scripts have been longlisted for the 2025 award, selected from 1,275 submissions.

Also announced today is new initiative Future Light, a talent development programme designed to support the longlisted playwrights on their creative journeys.

Supported by Arts Council England, Future Light offers longlisted playwrights one-on-one dramaturgical support, writing workshops led by leading UK playwrights, and a dedicated Futures Day of industry-focused sessions in spring 2026.

Launched in 2019, the Women’s Prize for Playwriting celebrates and supports exceptional female and non-binary playwrights, and campaigns for their plays to be presented on national stages in the UK and Ireland.

The Prize is awarded to a full-length play – defined as over 60 minutes in duration – written in English. The First Prize-winning play receives £20,000 in respect of an option for Ellie Keel Productions, Paines Plough, and Sheffield Theatres to co-produce the play. The prize is sponsored by Samuel French Ltd, a Concord Theatricals company, the official publishing partner of the prize.

The 2025 winner will be decided by a judging panel chaired by Director of the National Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham. The panel also includes Literary & Development Associate at Wessex Grove Kat Pierce, directors Milli Bhatia and Alice Hamilton, actress Romola Garai, Literary Agent Mel Kenyon, Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic Nancy Medina, the National Theatre’s Director of New Work Nina Steiger, and Guardian Editor-in-Chief Katharine Viner.

The Women’s Prize for Playwriting is produced by Ellie Keel Productions and Paines Plough

Last year’s winner was Sarah Grochala for Intelligence, which is currently in development with Paines Plough and Ellie Keel Productions.

Previous winners include Amy Trigg for Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me, Ahlam for You Bury Me, and Karis Kelly for Consumed.

Ellie Keel, Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Playwriting and Charlie Coulthard, Literary Manager of the Women’s Prize for Playwriting said in a joint statement: “These 41 exceptional plays represent the top 3% of a record-breaking 1,275 submissions — our highest number to date. We are deeply impressed by their extraordinary range, level of craft, and ambitious scope, which reflect the remarkable talent within this year’s cohort. We’re also thrilled to announce Future Light, a new talent development programme supported by Arts Council England. Designed to support the writers on our longlist, Future Light marks a significant step forward in WPP’s commitment to fostering excellence and expanding opportunities for female and non-binary writers for the stage in the UK and Ireland.”

Katie Posner Joint Artistic Director of Paines Plough said: “It has been an amazing, record-breaking year of submissions to the Women’s Prize for Playwriting, and we’ve read stories that have travelled the world and taken in a breathtaking range of human experience. It’s a joy to have read and advocated for these long-listed writers, and we can’t wait to keep these writers close as we invite them to join the exciting Future Light scheme.”