Funding Opportunity

Bill Cashmore Award 2026

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.

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.

Requirements

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

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