The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 

Britain’s biggest playwriting competition is the result of a long association between Bruntwood and the Royal Exchange Theatre. Both parties wanted to create a ground-breaking competition that opens up the world of playwriting to new and existing writers.

Since its inception in 2005, six full productions, nine prize winners and well over 5,000 entries have been generated by the Prize and the competition's winning work has now been seen in both the Theatre and The Studio at the Royal Exchange Theatre, at the Lyric Hammersmith and the Soho Theatre. 

A prestigious panel of judges, including Richard Wilson, Brenda Blethyn, Kwame Kwei-Armah and Michael Sheen have played a part in the competition.  

The 2011 competition was chaired by playwright Simon Stephens. He was joined by actors Maxine Peake and Sue Johnson, writer Jackie Kaye, Royal Exchange Artistic Director Sarah Frankcom and Bruntwood’s Chairman Michael Oglesby. Janice Okoh was announced as this year's winner for her play Three Birds.

Set in South East London, Three Birds is a play about the lives of three siblings who are home alone and left to protect their world against the adults who come to call.

Alongside the first prize of £16,000, three Judges’ Awards of £8,000 were presented to: Alistair McDowall for Brilliant Adventures; Gareth Farr for Britannia Waves the Rules and Louise Monaghan for Shadow Play.

You can find out more about the competition at Write a play