Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting Announces 2015 Winner Today at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre

The winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2015 will be announced today 17 November at a ceremony at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. The ceremony is open to the public (tickets via www.royalexchange.co.uk) and will also be broadcast live online at www.writeaplay.co.uk. The ceremony commences at 1.15pm.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2015 closed for entries on 5th June and 1,938 entries have been carefully wittled down by an army of over 80 readers to a shortlist of 10. Now the panel of judges chaired by Nicholas Hytner and including journalist Miranda Sawyer, actor Meera Syal, and former Bruntwood Prize winner Vivienne Franzmann are reading the final 10 and deciding the winners.

Writers of all levels of experience were invited to enter plays, which must be original, unperformed and unproduced. The winner will receive a prize of £16,000 and a production of their play. The competition, which runs every two years, is a unique partnership between the Royal Exchange Theatre and property company Bruntwood.

Two of 2013's winners - YEN by Anna Jordan, and THE ROLLING STONE by Chris Urch - received their critically acclaimed world premieres at the Royal Exchange this year.

The judging panel for this year's prize is chaired by Nicholas Hytner, former Artistic Director of the National Theatre.

The full judging panel is as follows:

- Nicholas Hytner (former Artistic Director, National Theatre)

- Sarah Frankcom (Artistic Director, Royal Exchange Theatre)

- Vivienne Franzmann (playwright and former Bruntwood winner)

- Ramin Gray (Artistic Director, Actors Touring Company)

- Bryony Lavery (playwright)

- Michael Oglesby CBE (Chairman, Bruntwood)

- Miranda Sawyer (writer and broadcaster)

- Meera Syal CBE (actor and writer).

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is open to writers in the UK and Ireland aged 16 and over.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is Britain's biggest playwriting competition. This round marks the 10th anniversary of the Prize, which has supported the development and productions of a significant number of playwrights since its inception in 2005. 17 playwrights have been awarded a total of £160,000. There have been fifteen critically acclaimed productions of winning entries, as well as a number of productions of plays elsewhere that were identified through the judging process.

Over 10,000 entries have been generated from across the United Kingdom and winning playwrights have gone on to have work produced at the Royal Court Theatre, Almeida Theatre, on Broadway and in the West End. It is a significant investment in playwrights and support for new work on stage. More information about the Prize can be found at www.writeaplay.co.uk/about.

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