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Soho Broadens Annual Prize for New Playwrights

Soho Theatre is now accepting entries for the Westminster Prize, Soho Theatre Company's and Westminster City Council's annual playwriting competition for first-time playwrights. The competition is open to anyone who lives, works or studies in Westminster, central London. Traditionally, the prize has been aimed at young writers but this year, for the first time, there will be two categories - writers aged 18 and under, and writers over 18 years of age.

Entrants should submit a short play which is approximately ten minutes long and contains no more than two characters. All plays must be based on a photograph chosen by Soho. This year's photograph is of a pair of naked feet standing on a double-yellow line (pictured).

As part of its annual new writing festival in November, Soho is holding two open access workshops for anyone wanting advice or help in writing their play for the competition. The free evening workshops are held on 5 and 26 November 2001 at 7.00pm. Places are limited and must be reserved in advance by calling 020 7478 0130.

All entries for the Westminster Prize will be read and assessed by a panel of readers made up of theatre professionals. The winning plays will then be selected from a shortlist by a panel of judges. The winners will receive theatre tokens and the plays will be given a staged reading by professional actors at Soho Theatre in the spring 2002.

Previous winners of the Westminster Prize include Simon Nunan, whose play Hunting for Dragons opened Soho's lunchtime season in 2000 and Suzy Almond, whose School Play was produced at Soho Theatre in June 2001.

The Westminster Prize is supported by the City of Westminster. The cut-off date for entries is 14 January 2002. For further information, visit the Soho Theatre website at www.sohotheatre.com.

- by Terri Paddock

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