Leodis Prize to Return to Edinburgh Fringe After SANCTUARY Success
The award offers a fully funded Fringe production, cash prize, and publication with Methuen Drama.
The Leodis Prize is set to run for 2027 and will open submissions on September 1st following the incredible reception of inaugural winner Sanctuary at the Edinburgh Fringe 2026. The Leodis Prize underscores the continuing importance of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a space for discovery and innovation, and as a platform for the next generation of theatre-makers as it awards exceptional first-time playwrights.
The Leodis Prize, launched in 2025, attracted nearly 350 submissions from across the UK and beyond. Offering a staged, fully funded production at the Edinburgh Fringe, representation from Leodis, a £2,000 cash prize to support careers and publication from Methuen Drama (an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing), the Prize presents a unique opportunity for emerging writers, with 2027's venue soon to be announced.
Sanctuary is the debut play by Jacob Sparrow which has been met by overwhelming critical acclaim at the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe. This reflective and time-shifting drama is inspired by real events in a Suffolk village, where plans to open an AIDS hospice in the early 1990s were met with local resistance. Sanctuary explores memory, belonging and community as past and present intertwine when one man is forced to confront memories he has long suppressed.
The show stars award-winning actors Matthew Tennyson (Making Noise Quietly, Donmar Warehouse; Salome, Royal Shakespeare Company) and Richard Cant (The Importance of Being Earnest, War Horse). The production is directed by Josh Seymour (A Streetcar Named Desire, Sheffield Crucible; We Had A World, Hampstead Theatre; Spend Spend Spend, Royal Exchange Theatre).
Daniel Hinchliffe, Managing Director of Leodis Talent and founder of the award, comments, 'The reaction to Sanctuary has been incredible. I'm so proud of the production and the reception it has received from the audiences and critics. And I am delighted to announce that The Leodis Prize will return to Fringe next year, with a new play from an as yet to be discovered writer.'
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