Wordsmithery Competition

We’re excited to partner up with 509 Arts, Bradford Producing Hub and Kala Sangam to bring you Wordsmithery, a new writing competition developed by 509 Arts.

If you are a Bradford resident aged 16+ and want to write for live performance (not film or TV) Wordsmithery could be for you.

Bradford is chock full of creative talent, and Wordsmithery is a chance for writers of all kinds to show us what they can do. We are looking for scripts up to 20 minutes long that have been written for live performance and which have never been fully produced before. They can either be a full piece or an extract of a longer script and can be for any kind of live performance. Theatre, stand-up, monologues, performance poetry and spoken word writing are welcome.

Four winning writers will receive a £350 cash prize, professional mentoring and a rehearsed reading of their script. A series of free online writing-for-performance workshops will be available before the submissions deadline in August. Competition judges will include nationally-produced, Bradford playwrights Nick Ahad and Emma Adams.

Wordsmithery is open to writers at different stages of their career. Whether you’re a beginner or a more experienced writer, Wordsmithery is for you.

We are particularly looking for exciting new writing from diverse voices that haven’t had work produced professionally. We welcome submissions from writers with different experiences, needs and interests and are happy to consider collaborative submissions from writing partnerships. If you have a particular access need and would like to have a conversation about how we can support your submission, please get in touch. You can sign up for updates and the Wordsmithery newsletter here: info@509arts.co.uk

Deadline for submissions is 31 August 2023. Full details of development workshops will be announced soon and the full terms and conditions can be found on the 509 Arts website.