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Victoria Wood Compilation Image. Three different images of Victoria Wood on stage.

The Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize for Comedy

Created by our Artistic Director Sean Foley, The Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize for Comedy (in partnership with The Victoria Wood Foundation) is the UK’s first ever major playwriting competition dedicated to the art of Comedy. The prize is open to UK residents only and will take place biennially.

Submissions for The Victoria Wood Playwriting Prize for Comedy closed on Fri 1 Dec 2023 after having received over 500 entries. The winner for the 23/24 prize will be announced in May 2024. The winning writer will receive a commission fee of £10,000 funded by the Victoria Wood Foundation, and an award of £15,000 prize money.

The shortlist of eight plays includes:

Bring me the Head of Miriam Margolyes by Andrew Pollard
Hello Charlie by Caoimhe Farren 
Bum by Ed Amsden and Tom Coles 
Goodbye Suzzie Jenkins by Ben Callon 
Reach for the Stars by Jenny Knotts 
Portugal by Eugene O’Hare
Sidekicked by Patrick Maguire 
Fake Melania by Poppy Corbett 

 

And the winner is…

Image shows Victoria Wood siting on a red chair and smiling at the camera. She is wearing a bright blue shirt and a black cardigan.

Meet the judges

The judging panel is BAFTA winning actor, comedian and friend of Victoria Wood Daniel Rigby, BAFTA winning actor and broadcaster Siobhan McSweeney, West End and Broadway producer Tegan Summer, renowned playwright Tanika Gupta, television producer and representative of the Victoria Wood Foundation Piers Wenger and Sean FoleyThe project is led by the multiple award-winning live comedy director, dramaturg and comedy teacher, Dec Munro.   

Sean Foley said:

To have a new major playwriting prize in our industry is a cause for celebration itself – never has the need for supporting new plays been greater – but to have this Prize dedicated to the art of Comedy, perhaps the most difficult genre of all, is ground-breaking. A fitting tribute to Victoria Wood’s trailblazing comic talent, this is the first major playwriting Prize for narrative stage comedy in the world. The Rep is proud that the home of the Prize is in the UK’s most diverse and youngest City. It is, of course, also the city where Victoria Wood herself went to university to study Drama.”

Please contact victoriawoodprize@birmingham-rep.co.uk for more information.