AN AWARD FOR WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS Beatie Edney, 26 January 2015 The Question: If you wanted to create a prize for women playwrights, what would be the criteria for submissions? I.E. Does their play have to be published? What will the prize mean to the writer? Participants in the Session: Lee, Juliet, Heather, Stella, Anna, Susan, Lucy, Jen, Mary, Beatie, Amy and others. - We discussed the criteria for submissions – there was a consensus that there shouldn’t be any criteria. The prize should be open to all - like The Open golf tournament. An invitation should be extended to all. - How to get the word out was discussed. - There was a consensus that the play should be a full-length play. The writer should determine whether their play was ‘full length’ for themselves. - There was a concern that the organizers would be swamped with submissions, but that they would have to identify a way to deal with that and several possibilities were put forward. - The possibility of having two awards was explored. One for an emerging and one for an established playwright. There would not be an age limit on the emerging playwright. The difference between the emerging and the established needed to be identified and defined. Some of us felt there should be only one prize. - The possibility of workshops, mentoring and giving the winning submissions a full production or a reading as part of the prize would have to be carefully considered. The financial portion of the prize was discussed. - A need to identify and collaborate with women of influence was explored. - The possibility of linking with particular venues was discussed. - The need for the prize to include something other than money was explored. Many of the writers in the group felt feedback, workshops and networking were as valuable as a cash prize. - There was a consensus that a website with resources, information and a toolkit for women writers would be useful. - The huge importance of finding the right collaborators was identified. - Useful panelists were identified, including the possibility of having a playwright on the panel. - Some of us found the very idea of a ‘prize’ challenging. It could be another opportunity for writers to feel rejection and that often very little actually benefits the writers in a meaningful way. A prize can imply a hierarchy of achievement. Anything hierarchical can be an opportunity for the participants to feel rejected again. - The intention of the prize to support, promote and encourage women writers and how it could do that was discussed. - Some of us felt that the more people who could benefit from the prize the better. - Some of us felt it was good to have an opportunity to present their work to be read and that feedback was invaluable. Some felt getting back something tangible was important. - We considered the invitation and the possibility of making a commitment to the writer in that invitation. A commitment that their play would be read, perhaps by interested professionals and that the writer would be given a response. Perhaps then connections could be made, a conversation started and a network of support created. - The need for guidelines about the submissions was identified. - Describing the invitation has to be carefully thought out and worded. - The need to find different terminology was identified - other than ‘prize’, ‘judging’ and winning. We chose ‘CONSIDERATION PANEL’ instead of judging panel – perhaps award instead of prize. - The possibility of creating bespoke awards was discussed I.E. to offer the emerging playwright whatever they needed to take their work on to the next stage. - The importance of having provider leadership as opposed to hierarchical leadership was identified. The women’s playwright award is a formal and gentle way of redressing the hurt savagery that arises from misogyny. The intention is to support, celebrate, value and promote the work of women playwrights. Images: Tags: advice, writers, Feedback, Prizes, playwrights, women, Playwrights, feedback, Writers, THEATRE, support, award, theatre, Advice, Support, Theatre, Women, FEEDBACK Comments: 1 Wendy Thomson, 12 January 2016 Hi Beattie I'm co-producing a pilot for a female playwrighting award with regional finals across the UK this year (2016) - this is led by RED Womens Theatre and I'll share your report with them as I didn't attend D&D last year. Best wishes Wendy from Female Arts magazine…if you'd like to get in touch my email is [email protected] or RED's is [email protected]