We are proud to introduce the Children and Young Persons Playwriting Award! 2019 is the inaugural year and we are looking forward to reading all of the entries we receive!
There are four categories, with one award per category for ‘Best Play’. In addition, there is a single award, which is our favourite play of all of the winning plays. The winner of each category will receive a small cash prize (we mean small, don’t put a deposit down on a house or anything…), and perhaps more importantly, their play will be rehearsed and performed by Mad Apple Collective over 2 days in August 2019.
This is our attempt to get out there and discover the young writing talent in our midst, give them the opportunity to have their work recognised and performed publicly, and hopefully inspire them to go on and do more writing in the future.
The Categories
The categories into which all entries will be allocated are as follows:
Category One: 10yrs and Under
Category Two: 11yrs – 12yrs
Category Three: 13yrs – 15yrs
Category Four: 16yrs – 18yrs
The Awards
The following awards are available:
Best Play – Category One (Public performance + £20 prize money)
Best Play – Category Two (Public performance + £20 prize money)
Best Play – Category Three (Public performance + £30 prize money)
Best Play – Category Four (Public performance + £30 prize money)
Best Overall Play (Trophy Award)
The Best Overall Play will be selected from the winners of the four categories.
How to Enter (in 4 easy steps!)
Please take time to read our general guidance notes on the award which are below. They contain all of the information you need to get started!
CYPPA – General Guidance Notes
Please note that we are only accepting entries from those living OR attending full-time education in the CM, CO, SS, RM, IG and CB postcode areas as we are predominantly looking to unearth talent in immediate area i.e. Essex.
Please find below ‘The Brief’ for each category. Each brief is different and has been specially chosen for each category. The brief provides you with an outline idea of the kind of play that we’re after; how you interpret and write to match the brief is up to you!
Category One (10yrs and Under)
Category Three (13yrs – 15yrs)
You may be accustomed to writing plays or it may be your first time. Just in case, we have prepared an example play with explanatory notes and with example content, and a template of the kind of layout we are after. Just to help you on your way! You can use the Play Template to write your play, or you may decide to do your own thing. The main thing is that it is easily read as a script and complies generally with the layout we have indicated.
Example Play – With Explanatory Notes
Example Play – With Example Content
And that’s it! We appreciate that there is a lot of information to take in, but what matters to us the most is that you have fun telling your story and sending it to us. Playwriting is a tremendously rewarding and exciting experience, and we’re keen that you enjoy taking part!
Remember to read our guidance document (Step One!) to get the deadline date, how to submit your play, how it should be presented and all of the other information!
If you have any questions, please use the contact form on our Contact page to ask your question – we’ll try to get back to you ASAP!