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A work that explores what happens when trauma is left to fester, set in Troubles-era Belfast, has been named the winner of the Women’s prize for playwriting 2025.
Judges praised what they described as unflinching and moving writing in Sapling by Georgina Duncan, a working-class playwright from Lancashire.
“Sapling is the rare kind of play that producers dream of discovering and audiences yearn to watch: gripping, fearless, and profoundly moving. Georgie’s writing is full of heart and vivid energy, matching its extraordinary craft in every scene,” said Ellie Keel, the prize’s founder director.
Sapling has at its root the murder of Conor Flynn by another child during the final years of the Troubles – an act that shocks a community already scarred by decades of violence. According to a synopsis released by the prize’s organisers, the story then follows his brother Gerry Flynn when aged 16 – 10 years after the murder.
“Despite a deteriorating home life, the pains of adolescence, and the lingering shadow of a brother who never grew up, he’s just about keeping it together – until the events of one day shatter everything.
“His brother’s memorial garden is destroyed, his killer released from prison, and the arrival of a charismatic stranger, Ryan, forces Gerry to confront the haunting dilemma: is Ryan the solution to his problems or the reason they exist in the first place?
“Sapling is a tender and darkly funny story about what grows when deep-rooted pain is left untended.”
Organisers said the latest edition of the award, which was launched in 2019 as the only national prize to champion and support playwrights who identify as female or non-binary, received 1,275 entries – the most it has had so far. Open to English-language plays running over 60 minutes, the prize offers its first prize-winner £20,000 alongside an option for Ellie Keel Productions, Paines Plough and Sheffield Theatres to co-produce the work.
The judges – whose number included the artistic director of the National Theatre Indhu Rubasingham, the actor Romola Garai and the Guardian’s editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, among others – were put through a “particularly rigorous” meeting, Keel said, “reflecting the impressive standard of all our final five plays”. She added: “These plays and writers have incredible futures on big stages and I can’t wait to follow their journeys.
It was also announced that Kristin Scott Thomas is to be the first winner of a newly created lifetime achievement prize named the Leading Light award. It is designed to “recognise a leading female in the arts industry for their enduring influence, distinguished body of work, and outstanding contribution to culture”, organisers said.
The winners were announced at an awards ceremony held on Monday at the West End venue @sohoplace.
