SUBMISSIONS FOR THE SILVER GULL PLAY AWARD 2025 WILL OPEN NEXT APRIL

THE SILVER GULL PLAY AWARD

Established in 2015 by subtlenuance theatre and sponsored by The Buzz from Sydney, The Silver Gull Play Award is an important literary prize for new theatrical writing by a playwright resident in New South Wales. New Theatre became home for the Award in 2020. A list of previous winners and shortlisted plays is located at the bottom of the page.

Sponsored by Joy Minter, the total prize money for the award is $7000. The winning playwright receives $5000 and the remainder of the prize pool is split evenly between the shortlisted writers.

The Silver Gull Award aims to recognise an outstanding play that aligns with New Theatre’s commitment to producing ‘Plays With a Purpose’. We’re looking for plays that support our ethos, provoke thought and discussion about the human condition, reflect on contemporary society, and engage with the challenges that concern us all.

To be eligible for The Silver Gull Play Award, plays must:

be at least 60 minutes in length
be unpublished and unproduced*
be unencumbered by agreements for future production or publication
be an original work of the playwright
be written by a playwright who resides in NSW or ACT
be written by a playwright over the age of 18 years as of 1 January of the year of the award
not be an adaptation of a work from one format to another (eg novel to play)

Plays may have been shortlisted for, but must not have won, another Australian playwriting competition as of the time of entry.
*Plays may have undergone a development, workshop or non-advertised public presentation.

PREVIOUS WINNERS AND FINALISTS OF THE SILVER GULL PLAY AWARD:

2023
Next To Godliness by Alastair Brown – winner
Chicken In A Biscuit by Mary Rachel Brown and Jamie Oxenbould
Burning by Christopher Bryant
The Mews by Joanna Erskine
The Dragonfly by Simon Thomson

2022
Inside Out by Christopher Bryant
Fighting by Xavier Coy – winner
God in Space by Jeanette Cronin
Miriam by James Elazzi

2021
Off The Record by Chris Aronsten
Sanctuary by Margaret Davis
Cloudsurfing by John AD Fraser
The Scammer by Wendy Lewis
Fitson and Dan by Mark O’Flynn
The Other End of The Afternoon by Bokkie Robertson – winner

2020
Victim by Jeanette Cronin
God’s Gruesome Shadow on The Wall by Kian Farzam
The Scream by Justin Fleming
Gods and Little Fishes by Jamie Oxenbould and Richard Sydenham – winner
The Park by Simon Thomson

2019
I Damo by Pauline Bleach
The Deal by Kel Vance
Breathless by Deborah Mulhall
Son of Byblos by James Elazzi
Field of Vision by Joanna Erskine – winner

2018
Disinhibition by Christopher Bryant
Alabaster Burning by John AD Fraser
People Inside Me by Katie Pollock
Superheroes by Mark Rogers
Lions and Tigers and Bears by Phillip James Rouse – winner

2017
The Bees Are All Dead by Kit Brookman
Dead Wen by Elias Jamieson Brown
For Unknown Reasons by Zoe Cooper – winner
A Spy in the House of Love by Zoe Hogan
Human Activity by Katie Pollock
The Blackbird and the Whale by Alison Rooke

2016
People Will Think You Don’t Love Me by Joanna Erskine – winner
A Matter of Life and Death by John AD Fraser
The Ink Trail by Louis Klee
This, This Is Mine by Duncan Ragg
I sat and waited but you were gone too long by Olivia Satchell

2015
Between the Streetlight and the Moon by Melita Rowston
Furthest West by Michael Collins
The Block Universe (Or So It Goes) by Sam O’Sullivan
The Last Executioner by Mark Swivel
TickTickBoom by Melissa Lee Speyer – winner