George Devine
Award
The award is recognised as one of the most prestigious for new writing.
It was set up in 1966 as a memorial to the life and talent of George Devine, a Director and Actor who launched a Writers’ movement that revolutionised theatre.
The award of £15,000 invites submissions annually from Theatres, Organisations and Agents around the UK for an original new stage play from a promising playwright.
'Winning this award, in this year, for this story means everything.’
Daniel Ward (2020 Award Recipient)
Winner 2021
Emily White for Atlantis
'I cannot express how honoured and grateful I am to receive this award after being shortlisted alongside such incredible talent, I did not expect to win and to say I feel overwhelmed is an understatement. The list of previous winners is full of writers I admire and to see my name sit alongside them is a surreal experience’.
Emily trained as an actor at RADA, was part of the Channel 4 Screenwriting course, BBC Wales Writersroom and ETT’s Nationwide Voices. Her play Pavilion premiered at Theatr Clwyd in 2019. She also has a television series in development.
Shortlist 2021
Travis Alabanza
Travis is a writer, performer and theatre maker from Bristol. Their writing, performance and public discourse centres on trans and Black identities.
Caroline Bird
Caroline Bird is a poet and playwright. She’s been shortlisted for the 2017 TS Eliot Prize, The Ted Hughes Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and The Most Promising New Playwright at the Off-West-End Awards. Her most recent poetry collection, The Air Year, won The Forward.
Gareth Farr
Gareth’s plays include Britannia Waves the Rules, winner of Bruntwood Prize 2011. The Quiet House (Birmingham Rep/Park Theatre) and is currently taking part in the BBC Studios Writers’ Academy.
Sami Ibrahim
Sami is a writer from London. Work includes two Palestinians go dogging (Royal Court, 2022), Metamorphoses (Shakespeare’s Globe, 2021), Fledgling (Radio 4, 2020), Wonder Winterland (Oxford School of Drama, 2019).
Zodwa Nyoni
Zodwa Nyoni is a Zimbabwean-born writer and director. Her plays have toured across the UK, USA, France and South Africa. She won the Channel 4 Playwright's Scheme in 2014.
Lulu Raczka
Lulu Raczka has written for theatre, screen and radio. She started writing with the company Barrel Organ, and has since written for The Gate, The Unicorn and New Diorama Theatre.
Tom Stuart
Tom has written two other plays – ‘I Am Not Myself These Days’ (produced by Fuel) & ‘After Edward’ (Shakespeare’s Globe). His first film ‘Mainstream’ premiered at the Venice Film Festival, 2020.
Selection Panel 2021
Justin Audibert
Justin is Artistic Director of the Unicorn Theatre.
Directing for the Unicorn includes: Anansi The Spider (also at Open Air Theatre Regents Park); The Canterville Ghost; Aesop’s Fables; Beowulf and My Mother Medea.
Other recent theatre directing credits include: The Child In The Snow; The Box Of Delights (Wilton’s Music Hall); The Taming Of The Shrew; Snow in Midsummer; The Jew of Malta (Royal Shakespeare Company); Macbeth; The Winter’s Tale (National Theatre); The Cardinal (Southwark Playhouse).
Luke Barnes
Luke Barnes is an award winning playwright. Highlights include: Freedom Project (Leeds Playhouse), The Jumper Factory (Young Vic), Sad Club (National Theatre), No One Will Tell Me How To Start A Revolution (Hampstead Theatre), All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (Bush Theatre, Paines Plough Roundabout with Middle Child), Bottleneck (Soho Theatre with HighTide), Chapel Street (Bush Theatre), Weekend Rockstars & Ten Storey Love Song (Hull Truck with Middle Child), The Saints (Nuffield Theatre).
Lisa Blair
Lisa has been working as a freelance theatre director for the past ten years. Directing credits include: Napoli, Brooklyn (The Park and UK tour), Skellig (Nottingham Playhouse), Jerusalem, Faust x2 (Watermill Theatre) Colder Than Here, Herons, The Man of Mode (Guildhall School of Music and Drama), The Country Girls (Chichester Festival Theatre), Spamalot (The English Theatre Frankfurt), Contractions (Sheffield Crucible), Love Story (Royal Academy of Music), I Didn’t Always Live Here (Finborough Theatre) and Country Music (West Yorkshire Playhouse). She was Chairwoman of Equity’s ‘Directors and Designers Committee’ from 2015-2019.
James Graham
James is an award-winning writer. His plays include Quiz (Chichester Festival Theatre, and West End) which was adapted for television in 2020; Ink (Almeida and Broadway), nominated for Best Play at the Tony awards 2020; Labour of Love (West End) winner of Best Comedy at the Oliviers, 2019; This House (National Theatre and West End). His other screen work includes Brexit: The Uncivil War and Coalition for Channel 4 and The Crown for Netflix. He is currently working on a musical with Jake Shears and Elton John, a new six part BBC1 drama, and a Working Title feature film.
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Gurpreet is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her work has been performed across the UK and internationally and includes A Kind of People, Royal Court; Behzti, Birmingham Rep; Khandan, Royal Court/Birmingham Rep; Behud, Soho Theatre/Coventry Belgrade; Dead Meat, Channel 4; Everywhere and Nowhere; Stealth Films. Her Plays One is published by Oberon.
Kate O’Flynn
Recent Theatre credits include: The Two Character Play (Hampstead Theatre); All of it, the end of history..., Anatomy of a Suicide (Royal Court), [BLANK] Donmar, Pinter One (Pinter Theatre); The Glass Menagerie (Duke of Yorks), A Taste of Honey, Port (National Theatre)
Recent Screen credits include: Bridget Jones Baby, No Offence, Wanderlust and the forthcoming Landscapers (HBO/SKY).