Verity Bargate Award

Launched in 1982, the Verity Bargate Award is one of the longest-established playwriting prizes in the UK. It honours Verity Bargate, Soho’s co-founder, who passionately championed new writing during her time at the small but hugely influential fringe company, Soho Poly. In 2024, the Award celebrated its 40th birthday. In 2025, recent winner Boys On The Verge Of Tears by Sam Grabiner won the Olivier Award for Best New Play at an Affiliate Venue.

For over 50 years, Soho Theatre has championed new writing – from lunchtime plays in the 1970s to today’s commissions, attachments, Writers’ Labs and awards. Open to new and emerging UK and Irish writers, the Verity Bargate Award uncovers the best new plays and launches the careers of some of Britain’s most celebrated playwrights and screenwriters.

The Award has been judged by some of the most exciting voices in British theatre, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Russell T Davies, James Graham, Lolita Chakrabarti, Meera Syal, Emma Rice, Moira Buffini, Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor), April De Angelis, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Anupama Chandrasekhar, Ryan Calais Cameron, Anthony Lau, Laura Wade, Sue Townsend, Ikenna Obiekwe, Alan Cumming, Theresa Ikoko, Irving Wardle, and more. The award is chaired by film and television producer, Character 7’s Stephen Garrett.

Playing at Soho Theatre, from 17 October 2025, get tickets here.

We announced the 2024 winner at an event celebrating the five shortlisted playwrights early in November, with Eoin McAndrew’s Little Brother as Award Winner and Martina Laird’s Driftwood as Award runner-up. You can read more about the announcement in our news article alongside our longlist and shortlist announcements.

Max Elton, our Associate Director (Literary) said of this year’s Award:  ‘Over the last four months, alongside a fantastic team of dedicated readers, Soho Theatre has had the pleasure of considering scripts from some of the UK and Ireland’s most promising emerging playwrights. Eoin McAndrew’s Little Brother truly stood out as a remarkable play that renders the universal in the particular, tackling big knotty themes with insight and humour. McAndrew is an exciting new voice in British theatre and a thoroughly deserving winner of this year’s award.’

As the 2024 Award winner, Little Brother receives:

• £8,000 for an exclusive option for Soho Theatre to produce the prize-winning play
• A full London run of the play staged at Soho Theatre
• Workshops and rehearsed readings of the play in India and USA

For the first time in the history of the Verity Bargate Award, Soho Theatre partners with leading new-writing venues in India and USA to hold workshops and readings of the prize-winning play. This year’s judging panel consists of playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar (The Father and the Assassin at National Theatre), multi award-winning screen and stage actor Alan Cumming, Olivier Award-winning playwright Moira Buffini (Handbagged at Hampstead Theatre / West End; Dinner at National Theatre / West End), and writer, director and Nouveau Riche artistic director Ryan Calais Cameron (For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy at Royal Court Theatre / West End; Typical at Soho Theatre), award-winning musician and actor Rebecca Lucy Taylor AKA Self Esteem (Cabaret at Kit Kat Club) and Anthony Lau (Associate Artistic Director, Sheffield Theatres).

For more information on this year’s award read our news story here.

Submissions open on Monday 12 January at 11am and close on Monday 13 April at 11am. Plays must be submitted via the online portal on this page. Submissions outside this window will not be considered.

To enter, you must live in the UK or Ireland and have had fewer than three professional productions. A professional production is typically defined as a run of three weeks or more where the writer is paid WGGB rates.

No. All submissions must be written for the stage. Prose and poetry are also not eligible.

No. All submissions are final. Redrafts will not be accepted, so please ensure your script is ready before you submit.

No. Previously submitted plays will not be accepted.

Only one play per writer is permitted.

Plays should run for at least one hour in performance time. As a rough guide, this equates to around 10,000 words. A good way to estimate this is to read your script aloud.

No, though we recommend including a list of characters within your script document.

Yes. Musicals and plays with songs are accepted, but will be judged on text alone.

No. Submissions must be unproduced, although up to three rehearsed readings or equivalent development are permitted prior to submission.

No. Submissions are not read anonymously. If you would prefer your work to be anonymous, please ensure your name and contact details are removed from the script.

Our preferred file format is PDF.

Unfortunately, due to the high volume of entries, we are unable to provide individual feedback.