Bill Cashmore Award: One Act Play Prize

The Bill Cashmore Award offers a paid opportunity for two new one-act plays by writers aged 18-30, to be professionally produced at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Bristol Old Vic.

The two winning plays will run as a double bill and will be performed by the Bristol Old Vic’s Young Company and Young SixSix in April 2027, and the Lyric’s SPRINGBOARD trainee actors in August 2027.

The award is kindly supported by the Bill Cashmore Award Founder Sasha Bates. 

Please note that submissions are now CLOSED for the Bill Cashmore Award: One Act Play Prize.

THE LONGLIST

A Witch, Summoned by a Southend Lidl Worker, Solves the Climate Crisis. At a Cost. — Katriona Stidston
ALGO — Katie Kopera
Belonging — Tara Quinn
Blue Potatoes — Kathryn Webb
Business Casual — Arthur Huntington
Cogs — Hannah Martin
Family Lies — Oisín Byrne
Hoodwinked — Andrew Parris
In Common — Nina Hern
Little Wars — Paige Stevens
Maintenance — Jack Curtin
Now I Lay — Georgia Casimir
Oh My Godchild — Ryan Williams
On The Cusp — Tiago Lara-Touza
PULLING AT RAT TEETH — Em Prendergast
Quests — Chloe Coombes
RAINBOW CITY — Mel Zhu
Strawberry Vodka — Tanya Kovatchka
The Last Cow — Eilidh Paterson
the ones who run into the wind — Jane Morri

ABOUT THE AWARD

To submit, you must:

  • Be aged 18-30 at the time of submission and based in the U.K. (incl Northern Ireland)
  • Be without professional literary representation (ie. a literary agent)
  • Have no more than 2 professional writing credits

Your script must:

  • Be suitable for a cast of 5 actors aged 16-25
  • Be written for stage by a single author
  • Be no more than 25 pages with a running length of 30 minutes, not including the title page and character descriptions
  • Be submitted in size 12 Arial font
  • Not have been previously professionally staged to a paying audience (R&Ds and sharings are not included in this criteria)

The two successful writers will:

  • Receive a fee of £4,078.47 (exclusive of royalties)
  • Be creatively involved in shaping the marketing and involved in the rehearsal process
  • Receive dramaturgical support from both the Bristol Old Vic and the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre
  • Receive complimentary invites to tickets to all performances in London and Bristol
  • Be invited to Lyric and Bristol Old Vic Press Nights