The Squint Playwriting Award is open to applicants for the first time since 2023, offering eight early-career London writers from low-income backgrounds a paid six-month programme and an industry showcase at Theatre Royal Stratford East.
It is the first Squint Playwriting Award since 2023, when the prize went to Beattie Green for Kill My Darling. The company has now confirmed a second programme, run in partnership with Theatre Royal Stratford East. Applications are open, and the programme itself runs from December 2026 to July 2027.
This is a development scheme rather than a production, and nothing about it goes on sale. Eight writers are taken through six months of workshops, masterclasses, Q&As and mentoring sessions, each of them developing a one-act play of 70 minutes. The programme closes with an industry showcase of extracts from those plays at Stratford East, with dates still to be confirmed.
What sets it apart is that the writing is paid for. Every participant receives a seed commission for writing time, the London Living Wage for all contact hours and travel expenses throughout the programme, and bursaries for access costs are available. After the showcase, one of the eight is awarded a Writers’ Guild of Great Britain one-act play commission of £7,286.18 to develop the original script with Squint. That decision is made at the end of the programme, on Friday 9 July 2027.
Core activity is led by Artistic Director Andrew Whyment and the Squint team, with masterclasses from the likes of David Adjmi, Hackney Showroom and The Lighthouse Film & TV. The industry mentors include James Graham, Kenny Emson, Rachel De-Lahay, Sam Bailey and Sonali Bhattacharyya.
Andrew Whyment, Artistic Director of Squint, said: “as a new work company working with artists from low-income backgrounds, we know the barriers that can prevent talented writers from building a career in theatre. A lack of money, limited industry networks and the feeling that you don’t belong can all make it harder to stay in the industry and develop your work. The Squint Playwriting Award is about removing those barriers. By paying writers for their time, giving them space to develop a one-act play and connecting them with experienced artists and industry professionals, we’re giving exceptional writers the time, support and confidence to take the next step in their journeys”.
Applicants must be from a low-income background and currently facing financial barriers to professional development; over the age of 18 at the start of the programme, with no upper age limit; based in London; in the early stages of a playwriting career and yet to receive a paid commission for a play more than 50 minutes in length; and ready to develop a one-act, 70-minute play.
Squint accepts open applications as well as referrals from recruitment partners that have relationships with artists from low-income backgrounds: Cardboard Citizens, Compass Collective, Hackney Showroom, National Youth Theatre, Outside Edge Theatre Company, Synergy Theatre Project and Theatre Royal Stratford East. Fuller guidance on eligibility, and the application form itself, are on the Squint Theatre Company website, which gives a closing date of Monday 2 November 2026.
Squint was founded at the University of Reading in 2009 and is led by Whyment. The company is now based in London but works internationally, and its previous work includes Long Story Short at the Charing Cross Theatre and Molly, which won the Charlie Hartill Award and a Stage Award.
