Sabi Arts Playwrights Prize

Description

Sabi Arts Limited launches the Sabi Arts Playwright Prize, an annual award for Nigerian playwrights and the stories they have yet to tell.

The inaugural prize will recognize and support new and original writing for the stage; compelling storytelling, distinctive voices and a strong sense of theatrical craft, creating opportunities for playwrights to move their work beyond the page and towards audiences.

The inaugural prize is structured into three winning categories;

• A grand prize with a cash award of N1,000,000, development of the winning script for production in collaboration with Ouida Lagos, and an automatic entry into Sabi Arts' next writer’s residency program.

• A runner-up pize with a cash award of N200,000 and an automatic entry into Sabi Arts writer’s residency program.

• The Julie Okoh prize, awarded to the strongest eligible play written by a woman playwright, with a cash award of N200,000, a professionally developed stage reading, and an automatic entry into the Sabi Arts writers residency program.

The Prize will open for submissions on 1st October 2026, and close on 20th December 2026, and is open to Nigerians (18+) living in Nigeria and the diaspora.