We’ve partnered up to expand the reach of the Bill Cashmore Award! The partnership means the winning plays will be professionally produced at both theatres, in Bristol and London.

The two winning plays will be made into a full professional production as a double bill. This double bill of plays will be performed at both the Bristol Old Vic and the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. Both theatres will produce their own production of the play, and although the text will be the same in both productions, the Cast and Creative Teams will be entirely different.

The Bristol Old Vic cast will be made up of members of the Young Company and Young SixSix, and the Lyric Hammersmith cast will be made up of SPRINGBOARD trainees, all of whom are training actors and are unpaid as this is a part of their programmes.

The run of the plays will take place in April 2027 at the Bristol Old Vic Weston Studio, and  August 2027 at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre Studio.

You must be aged 18-30 at the time of submission.

Yes, if you are aged 18 – 30 at the time of submission.

We particularly interested in hearing from those who are a part of the Global Majority, neurodivergent, d/Deaf, disabled, part of the LGBTQ+ community, those from low-income households, those in care, are care leavers, or are carers.

Please find a list of locations here. We appreciate this list is not exhaustive and will also use data from the ONS Index of Multiple Deprivation to further define areas culturally underserved.

Yes.

Yes. Successful writers will be invited to engage with the rehearsal process and artistic development of their work.

At Bristol Old Vic, the winning scripts will be staged in ‘thrust’, with the audience sitting on three sides of the playing space. The designer will be an emerging set & costume designer, based in Bristol or the South West.

At the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, the winning scripts will be staged with an ‘End on’ seating configuration. The design of the shows will be in collaboration with a Wimbledon College of Arts, BA Theatre Design graduate.

The script must be a new piece of writing and not an adaptation or section of an existing story.

All submissions must be written for the stage.

No, as the cast performing are not trained in musical theatre or as actor musicians.

No, submissions are only eligible for one author.

No. Each writer may submit one script only.

Yes. Writers with two or fewer professional writing credits are eligible.

Midday on Tuesday 25^th August, and we cannot accept applications after this time.

No, we will only read your first submission. However, this does not mean it will be the final draft or version of your play – we will work with you to redraft your script throughout the producing process!

The script should require a cast of 5 actors aged 16 – 25 for your play, yet you can write for as many characters as you like, as the casting process can accommodate multi–rolling.

Yes, but the play must be suitable for performance by actors who are aged 16–25.

Scripts will be anonymised, and read by the Young Lyric Engagement and Bristol Old Vic Engagement & Literary Teams, in consultation with the Award founder. The longlist will consist of the top 20 plays, and the shortlist will consist of the top 5 plays.

If your script has been in R&D, performed in sharings, or to a small invited audience, yes. However, your script must not have been performed in front of a paid audience.

Of course. Please contact us via talentdevelopment@lyric.co.uk and we will be in contact with you to support you.

We collect this data to administer this Award. This is used to confirm eligibility, assess our reach, and communicate with young people about their submission. Read our Privacy Statement where we talk about how we use your data.

Please come to one of our online drop in session to meet the team, and ask us anything at all! Sign up to a drop in session here. If you have any further questions, please get in touch with us: talentdevelopment@lyric.co.uk.