Women’s Prize for Playwriting announces 2025 shortlist

The Women’s Prize for Playwriting has confirmed the 20 scripts shortlisted for its 2025 award. Ellie Keel Productions and Paines Plough received 1,275 submissions for this year’s round, the highest number since the prize was launched in 2019.

The award supports female and non-binary playwrights and seeks to increase the visibility of their work on main stages across the UK and Ireland. Eligible plays must run over 60 minutes, and the winner receives £20,000 and an option for the work to be co-produced by Ellie Keel Productions, Paines Plough, and Sheffield Theatres. Samuel French Ltd, a Concord Theatricals company, continues as the prize’s publishing partner.

The finalist plays will be named in December. The winner will be chosen by a panel chaired by National Theatre Director and co-chief executive Indhu Rubasingham, with the announcement taking place at @sohoplace on 9 February 2026.

The shortlist is as follows:

• Weeping Woman by Ellen Bannerman
• The Fingerprint Bureau by Sonali Bhattacharyya
• HIDE AND SEEK WITH JIMMY LING by Naomi Sumner Chan
• I LOVE STRANGERS by Nurit Chinn
• Sapling by Georgina Duncan
• The (Yellow) Wallpaper by Phoebe Eclair-Powell
• F**king Jane Austen by Billie Esplen
• A Patent Lie by Sarah Jane Gordon
• Three Boys by Danielle James
• Witch Play by Cordelia Lynn
• We’re Gonna Kill Billy by Alex Medland
• A to B by Tia-Renee Mullings
• Yes Chef by Laurie Ogden
• Przewalski’s Horses by Silva Semerciyan
• A Search for the End by Stef Smith
• Belongings by Jane Upton
• Up in the Mango Trees by Britny Virginia
• The Room by Manjinder Virk
• The Children of Glyndwr by Emily White
• Down Side Up by Mei Leng Yew

Alongside Rubasingham, the judging panel consists of Wessex Grove literary and development associate Kat Pierce, directors Milli Bhatia and Alice Hamilton, actor Romola Garai, literary agent Mel Kenyon, playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Bristol Old Vic artistic director Nancy Medina, National Theatre director of new work Nina Steiger, and Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner.

Former winners include Amy Trigg for Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me, Ahlam for You Bury Me, and Karis Kelly for Consumed. These plays have since been staged widely, with Consumed completing a UK tour and a sold-out run at the Traverse before upcoming transfers to Lyric Belfast and Park Theatre in spring 2026. The most recent winner, Sarah Grochala, is developing her play Intelligence with Paines Plough and Ellie Keel Productions.