SAPLING BY GEORGINA DUNCAN WINS
THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR PLAYWRITING 2025
Sapling by Georgina Duncan is today announced as the winning script for The Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2025. Produced by Ellie Keel Productions and Paines Plough, the Prize is the only national award dedicated to championing and supporting exceptional playwrights who identify as female or non-binary.
The winner was announced at an awards ceremony held on 9 February 2026 at @sohoplace,in front of an audience of invited guests and leading figures from the UK theatre industry. This year’s Prize received a record-breaking 1,275 submissions which were judged by Director of the National Theatre Indhu Rubasingham (Chair); directors Milli Bhatia and Alice Hamilton; actress Romola Garai; literary agent Mel Kenyon; playwright and screenwriter Morgan Lloyd Malcolm; Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic Nancy Medina; Literary & Development Associate at Wessex Grove Kat Pierce; the National Theatre’s Director of New Work Nina Steiger; and Guardian Editor-in-Chief Katharine Viner.
Also announced today, Kristin Scott Thomas is the winner of WPP’s inaugural Leading Light award, a lifetime achievement prize recognising a leading female in the arts industry for their enduring influence, distinguished body of work, and outstanding contribution to culture. The ceremony also featured a special monologue – written by Abi Morgan with contributions from the longlisted writers – performed by Dame Meera Syal, celebrating the legacy and continuing impact of women shaping British theatre.
Ellie Keel Founder Director of the Women’s Prize for Playwriting today said, “Sapling is the rare kind of play that producers dream of discovering and audiences yearn to watch: gripping, fearless, and profoundly moving. Georgie’s writing is full of heart and vivid energy, matching its extraordinary craft in every scene. The judges’ meeting was particularly rigorous this year, reflecting the impressive standard of all our Final Five plays, which were selected from our highest number of submissions yet. These plays and writers have incredible futures on big stages and I can’t wait to follow their journeys. It’s a privilege to be at the helm of the Women’s Prize for Playwriting as we continue to grow and reach more writers, and champion the wealth of female and non-binary talent we all know is out there, but is sometimes overlooked or compromised by old-guard gatekeepers. The future for big plays by women is getting brighter all the time, but we need to keep our foot on the pedal.”
Katie Posner and Charlotte Bennett, Joint Artistic Directors of Paines Plough, and Debo Adebayo Deputy Artistic Director added, “We are prouder each year of the growing impact of this prize and the very real difference it makes to female and non-binary writers. This was the most competitive year yet, with the highest number of submissions so far, and an incredibly difficult decision for the judges to choose just one from the incredible Final Five. A huge congratulations to all five finalists, whose work was such a privilege to read. Georgina’s winning script is a deeply assured piece of storytelling: a tender, powerful portrait of a family and community living in the long shadow of grief, written with confidence, skill, care and love. Since the prize began, we’ve produced three winning plays – bringing them to over 35,000 audience members in 31 locations nationwide – and we’re so excited to see Sapling grow and connect with audiences on that same scale.”
Elizabeth Newman, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, commented, “Sheffield Theatres is so proud to be the new venue partner of the Women’s Prize for Playwriting, we are so immensely proud to be working alongside Ellie and WPP Team and Katie and Charlotte at Paines Plough. We are already deeply involved in planning a future production of Georgina Duncan’s Sapling. As a national organisation, this powerful partnership represents our deep commitment to champion bold new writing across the country and ensuring that exceptional work by women is not only celebrated, but brought to life on stage.”
Founded in 2019, the prize has championed female and non-binary playwrights, and campaigns for their plays to be presented on national stages in the UK and Ireland. Open to English-language plays running over 60 minutes, the prize offers its First Prize winner £20,000 alongside an option for Ellie Keel Productions, Paines Plough, and Sheffield Theatres to co-produce the work. The prize is sponsored by Samuel French Ltd, a Concord Theatricals company, the official publishing partner of the prize.
Previous winners of the prize include Amy Trigg (Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me), Ahlam (You Bury Me), and Karis Kelly (Consumed). Their plays have gone on to critical success and major productions, with Consumed recently completing a hit UK tour and sell-out run at the Traverse as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe, ahead of transfers to Lyric Belfast and Park Theatre in Spring 2026. The most recent winner, Sarah Grochala, is developing her play Intelligence with Paines Plough and Ellie Keel Productions.
SAPLING
By Georgina Duncan
Conor Flynn’s murder at the hands of another child sends shockwaves through a community already scarred by years of violence.
A decade later, 16 year old Gerry Flynn is striving for normality in Belfast during the last gasps of The Troubles. Despite a deteriorating home-life, the pains of adolescence, and the lingering shadow of a brother who never grew up, he’s just about keeping it together – until the events of one day shatter everything.
His brother’s memorial garden is destroyed, his killer released from prison, and the arrival of a charismatic stranger, Ryan, forces Gerry to confront the haunting dilemma: is Ryan the solution to his problems or the reason they exist in the first place?
Sapling is a tender and darkly funny story about what grows when deep-rooted pain is left untended.
Georgina Duncan is a working class writer and actor from East Lancashire, now based in London. As a playwright, her work has been both shortlisted and longlisted for various playwriting competitions including BOLD Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket, Papatango, Theatre503 International Prize and Druid Theatre. In 2024 she was commissioned to write a new play, Penalty for Improper Use, for LAMDA’s MishMash Festival. The play was then subsequently selected to have a rehearsed reading at Theatre503. Georgina debuted and performed her one woman show ASBO BOZO at Riverside Studios.
www.womensprizeforplaywriting.co.uk
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