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 award is kindly supported by the Bill Cashmore Award Founder Sasha Bates. Young Lyric is funded to support and provide opportunities for children and young people through programmes, workshops and activities.

We particularly welcome submissions from those who are underrepresented in theatre and/or situated in areas culturally underserved.

To submit, you must:

Be aged 18-30 at the time of submission and based in the UK (including 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

Find out more here

Deadline: Tuesday 6th January 2026 at 12pm