Bill Cashmore Award 2026
Posted by CHARTS
Submissions are now OPEN for the second year of the Bill Cashmore Award: One Act Play Prize
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.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via talentdevelopment@lyric.co.uk or 020 8741 6822 extension 425.