Anna Jordan's YEN Earns 2013 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting

Anna Jordan is today, Friday 22 November, announced as the winner of the £16,000 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting for her play, Yen.

Yen tells the story of two brothers, 16 year old Hench and 13 year old Bobbie, who live alone with their dog, Taliban, playing video games and watching porn. It is a play that explores lost childhood, lost innocence, love and violence with tragic consequences. Jordan was inspired by a story in a local paper about two boys who committed a hideous crime.

Yen is the fourth play from South London playwright, Anna Jordan, whose work has been performed at the Bush Theatre, Soho Theatre and Riverside Studios in London.

A further three Judges' Awards were awarded to Bird by Katherine Chandler,Rolling Stone by Chris Urch and So Here We Are by Luke Norris, who each receive £8,000.

The announcement was made at a lunchtime ceremony at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester by Chair of judges, Dame Jenni Murray. She commented:

'It's been an extraordinary shortlist this year and very difficult to decide on a winner. Yen is a play of great depth and relevance. In an incredibly dark world each of the characters are drawn with beautiful empathy, and a humanity which stood out to all the judges.'

Michael Oglesby, judge and Chairman of Bruntwood, added:

'Having sat on the judging panel since the inception of the prize in 2005, I'm thrilled to see the ambition and theatricality of the scripts on this year's shortlist. We have seen two distinct themes emerge: many tackled alienated, damaged and contemporary youth; others examined major world issues. The writers have been brave and adventurous, showing surprising confidence given the gravity of the subjects.'

As an integral part of the prize all four award winners will go on to develop their work with the Royal Exchange Theatre, with a view to production. The leading theatre publishers Nick Hern Books will publish all winning plays that receive a production at the theatre.

The four playwrights were selected from a shortlist of ten who remained anonymous until today, allowing the panel of judges to base their decision on the plays alone.

Also on the shortlist were:

December by Alice Birch

Imamby Toby Clarke

Dorm by Lynda Radley

P'YongYangby In-Sook Chappell

Russian Dollsby Kate Lock

Wasteby David Kantounas

Dame Jenni Murray was joined on the judging panel by the award-winning playwrightsDavid Eldridge and Tanika Gupta MBE; Associate Director of the National Theatre,Marianne Elliott; actress, SurAnne Jones; Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, Greg Hersov; theatre critic, Benedict Nightingale and Chairman of Bruntwood, Michael Oglesby CBE.

With prize money totalling £40,000, the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, a joint venture between property company Bruntwood and the Royal Exchange Theatre, is the UK's biggest playwriting competition. Since its inception in 2005, over 7000 scripts have been entered, £160,000 has been awarded to 15 prize winning writers and eight winning productions have been staged.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting has been responsible for launching and furthering the careers of Britain's most promising playwrights. Alistair McDowall - winner of Judges Award in 2011 for Brilliant Adventures - has subsequently been nominated as Best New Play in the 2013 Writers' Guild of Great Britain and has been commissioned by The Royal Court Theatre. A new play, Pests, by Vivienne Franzmann, winner of Judges Award in 2008 will open at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Spring 2014 before transferring to The Royal Court Theatre and touring the UK.Duncan Macmillan, winner of Judges Award at 2005, has received critical acclaim for a new adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, currently touring the UK, produced by Headlong Theatre Company.