Drama Awards
Read about the WGGB New Play Commission Scheme and Faber New Play Award, from Faber Drama.
The WGGB New Play Commission Scheme
The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain has launched the New Play Commission Scheme. Designed to respond to the decline in new theatre commissions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scheme offers 15 new commissions for playwrights across England in 2022. The Scheme is open for entrants from 12 May – 24 June 2022. For full details and to apply, please visit the WGGB website.
The Faber New Play Award
Faber will award £5,000 to the best play written under the WGGB New Play Commission Scheme by an unpublished playwright, judged by a panel of theatre practitioners.
To be eligible for the award, the script must be submitted to Faber by 3 May 2023. As part of the award, the play will be published by Faber to coincide with its premiere.
Applications open on 1 March 2023 and should be sent as a single PDF or Microsoft Word document, with numbered pages to fabernewplayaward@faber.co.uk.
For full criteria, terms and conditions and FAQs, please see below.
Faber New Play Award Submission Criteria
– Entrants must have received a Writer’s Guild of Great Britain (‘WGGB’) New Play Commission Scheme award.
– Entrants must be unpublished as playwrights.
– Scripts written by more than one author are eligible.
– Your submission must be the complete play, although it need not be the final draft.
– Your play must be unproduced. ‘Unproduced’ is defined as having both (a) had no more than 6 performances for which people could buy tickets and (b) not having received a professional review.
– The play must be submitted for consideration between 1 March 2023 and 3 May 2023.
– Scripts should be submitted as an attachment to your email, as a single PDF or Microsoft Word document, with numbered pages to fabernewplayaward@faber.co.uk
– The winning play will only be published to coincide with the play’s premiere. If it does not receive a production, it will not be published.
– You must own and control all copyright relating to your script.
***The Faber New Play Award is now closed for submissions.***
If you have any specific questions which haven’t been covered in our FAQs, please get in touch at fabernewplayaward@faber.co.uk.
You must have received a WGGB New Play Commission Scheme award and you must be unpublished as a playwright.
Your play does not have to be completely polished to be eligible for this award but we expect your submission to be at least a first draft of the full-length play.
For Faber to publish the play, a dozen performances or more are required. Work-in-progress performances and amateur performances of your script will not be considered as the play’s premiere.
Writing partnerships are accepted.
Terms and Conditions
By entering the Faber New Play Award competition (‘the Competition), you are confirming that you agree to the following terms and conditions and will be described as an “Entrant” below.
– Entrants must have received a WGGB New Play Commission Scheme award for an unproduced and unpublished play (‘the Play’).
– Entrants must be unpublished as playwrights.
– An Entrant’s Play must be submitted via email only as a Word document of a PDF to fabernewplayaward@faber.co.uk Entries made by any other method will not be accepted.
– The Competition shall run from midday British Summer Time 1 March 2023 until midday British Summer Time on 3 May 2023. Any Play submitted to the Competition received outside of these times will not be considered.
– Entrants retain all copyright in the Play, and by entering the Competition confirm that they are free to enter into a publishing agreement with Faber & Faber Ltd (‘Faber’) to publish the Play, and that the Play is original to the Entrant and has not been previously published in any form or language anywhere throughout the world. They also confirm that the Play does not contain anything libellous, defamatory or obscene and does not infringe the copyright or any other proprietary right of any third party.
– By entering the Competition, an Entrant agrees that, if they win the Competition and wish to be considered for publication, they will need to enter into a standard publishing agreement with Faber & Faber Ltd for worldwide, English language publication rights (including eBook and inclusion in Drama Online).
– There is no obligation for Faber to publish any of the Plays submitted to the Competition. In the event that the judges determine that none of the Plays submitted to the Competition are suitable for publication, the judges shall nonetheless select the best Play in accordance with these terms and conditions and will award the author(s) of that Play £5,000 (five thousand pounds).
– By entering into the Competition, each Entrant agrees that if they win, their name and image may be used for the purpose of announcing the winner of the Competition and the publication of the Play in any related publicity with Faber without additional payment or permission. You can withdraw your consent to this at any time.
– Faber reserves the right to exclude an Entrant or withhold prizes for any violation by an Entrant of these Terms and Conditions. In addition, Faber reserves the right to amend this Competition and/or these terms and conditions at any time.
– Faber will process Entrants’ data only for the purposes of entering Entrants into and administering the Competition, and not for any other purpose without the Entrant’s consent. For further information on how Faber processes data please read our Privacy Policy.
– Under no circumstances shall Faber be responsible for any loss, damages, costs or expenses arising from or in any way connected with an errors, defects, interruptions, or delays in the promotion of the Competition nor shall Faber be responsible for any loss, changes, costs or expenses which may arise in connection with the Competition.
– Any disputes relating to the Competition will be governed by the laws of England and Wales and will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.