The Bill Cashmore Award
Our friends at the Lyric have opened submissions for the Bill Cashmore award 2026 - a fantastic opportunity check it out below!
The Bill Cashmore Award, presented by Young Lyric, offers a paid opportunity for two new one-act plays by writers aged 18-30, to be professionally produced at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. The two winning plays will run as a double bill and will be performed by the Lyric’s SPRINGBOARD trainee actors in Autumn 2026.
To submit, you must:
Be aged 18-30 at the time of submission and based in the U.K. (incl Northern Ireland)
Be without professional representation (ie. a literary agent)
Have no more than 2 professional writing credits
The two successful writers will:
Receive a fee of £4,000.11 (exclusive of royalties)
Receive an agreed contribution to your travel for attendance in person if required
Be creatively involved in shaping the marketing and involved in the rehearsal process
Receive dramaturgical support
Receive complimentary invites to tickets to all performances
Be invited to Lyric Press Nights
We particularly welcome submissions from those who are underrepresented in theatre and/or situated in areas culturally underserved. Please see our FAQs for more details. Applications close on Tuesday 6th January at 12pm. Please see here for full information, our FAQs, and to submit: https://lyric.co.uk/bill-cashmore-award/
The award is kindly supported by the Bill Cashmore Award Founder Sasha Bates.
Good to see the Bill Cashmore Award back. A paid double bill at the Lyric performed by trainee actors is a genuinely useful step for writers at that stage of their careers.
One practical note for anyone submitting: a short filmed reading of your opening scene is a quick way to show tone, and once the winning plays are in rehearsal, clean short clip captures are worth far more for marketing than one full length recording.
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What a fantastic opportunity for emerging playwrights! Like the Mardi Himal trail, which gives travelers a chance to discover something special beyond the usual path, this award creates space for fresh voices and new stories to shine. Best wishes to everyone submitting their plays!
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