$30,000 playwright award invites entries

MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY OF: THE STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA

Playwrights are invited to apply for $30,000 in script development awards.

Applications are now open for The R.E. Ross Trust Playwrights’ Script Development Awards 2010. The Awards support the development of plays as works-in-progress.

The Awards offer a total of $30,000 in prize money with writers able to apply for between $3000 and $10,000. The money can be used to fund workshops or support further work with a director, dramaturge, script editor and/or actors. The plays should not have been previously produced.

Winning scripts are also considered for further opportunities including being part of the rehearsed readings series Flashpoint at the State Library of Victoria and fortyfivedownstairs and the chance to be invited to PlayWriting Australia’s National Play Festival 2011.

These annual awards, first offered in 2003 and administered by the State Library of Victoria, have provided financial support to over 30 plays in the early stages of development. Of those many have gone on to be fully produced - in 2010, five winning scripts will get professional productions in Melbourne alone, including Patricia Cornelius’ Do Not Go Gentle.

An information session will be held on Tuesday 2 March 2010, 6:30–7.30pm at the State Library of Victoria, Conference Centre, La Trobe St entrance – those intending to apply are encouraged to attend.

Entries close 5pm Friday 26 March 2010:

For information and entry forms:
Website: www.slv.vic.gov.au/ross
Email: rosstrustawards@slv.vic.gov.au
Telephone: 03 8664 7523
Address: State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000