The results of this year's Geoffrey Whitworth playwriting competition have been announced. They are as follows:

Winning play: 'The Funeral of Macie Loverett' by Gytha Lodge of Cambridge

Highly Commended: 'Bread and Blood’ by Isabella C Rae of Cambuslang

Highly Commended: 'I Have Known a Monster’ by Danny McCahon of Greenock

Commended: 'L’Entretien d’Embauche’ by Alexandra Buriana of Moldova

Commended: ‘Helen’ by Peter Whiteley of Dingwall

Commended: ‘Out in the Morning’ by Arthur Aldrich of Naseby

Commended|: ‘Remembrance Day’ by Bev Clark of Wallasey

There was an entry of fourteen scripts this year, which were judged by reading. ‘I Have Known a Monster’ was the winner of this year’s Scott Salver playwriting competition.

In his comments on the plays, principal judge Ron Nicol said: 'This year there were fourteen entries of varying quality. Three dealt with war or aspects of war, and one was written entirely in French. Ghosts, spirits or people who were dead or dying featured in no fewer that ten of them. I’m sure that playwrights would be delighted to have further productions of their work, and to further that end, it’s surely a writer’s obligation to offer every assistance in reading the script. A cast list and a synopsis are helpful, as are suggestions about how complicated staging and effects might be achieved.’

The trophy was presented to Gytha Lodge at the close of the Saturday evening's performances at the British Final Festival at Enniskillen on 4th July.

A brief summary of the above seven plays will shortly appear in the SCDA website's catalogue of prize-winning plays.

***Scott Salver Competition 2009 ***

The winner of the 2009 Scott Salver one-act playwriting competition is Danny McCahon of Greenock with 'I Have Known a Monster'. The play was presented by Plamf Players in the Inverclyde District Festival.

Second place went to 'Fall Back' by Bob Davidson of Luncarty, who was last year's winner. His play was presented by the Birnam Institute Players in the Perthshire District Festival.

Third equal were 'Bread and Blood' by Isabella C Rae of Cambuslang, presented by Rutherglen Rep in the Glasgow District Festival and 'Loving Memory' by Jack Hoskins of Tain, presented by Culloden Youth Theatre in the Moray Firth District Festival.

There was a total of twelve entries in the Scott Salver competition in 2009. The plays were judged by reading by members of the SCDA Playwriting Committee and the trophy was presented to Danny McCahon by SCDA Honorary President Richard Wilson at the Scottish Final Festival at the Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh, on 25th April.

Six of the plays entered for the Scott Salver competition have been forwarded by the SCDA Playwriting Committee to the Geoffrey Whitworth competition.

Synopses of the top six plays will appear in the next edition of Scene and will be added to our catalogue of new competition-winning and commended plays.

Play on Words 2009

There were 75 entries for this year's Play on Words playwriting competition which is for one-act plays running for between 20 and 55 minutes with a minimum of two characters.

Seventy-one were assessed initially by panels of experienced SCDA readers/assessors; four of the entries were disqualified as they did not meet all the conditions of entry. The Playwriting Committee then drew up a shortleet of 14 plays which were judged by our professional judge Alastair Cording of London. He selected the top three (note: these are not listed in any particular order of merit):

'On the Edge' by David Hutchison of West Kilbride

'The Opposite of Claustrophobic' by Rob Johnstone of Altrincham

'Soap in My Eye' by Vince Kenny of Saddleworth, Lancashire

The final places were announced until Saturday 7th November in the One Touch Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, after the three plays had been performed by amateur clubs. The plays are judged not on the performances, but as pieces of dramatic writing.

The winning playwrights received their prizes of £500, £300 and £200 at the end of the evening.

SCDA members come to the rescue

All the plays in the final of the Play on Words Competition being held at Eden Court One Touch Theatre Inverness on 7 November.( National AGM Weekend). are now in rehearsal.  Please come along and support the teams and the play authors.

The Opposite of Claustrophobic' by Rob Johnstone is already in rehearsal by Plockton ADS.

'On the Edge' by David Hutchison will be performed by Leatheatre.

Soap in my Eye' by Vince Kenny is being performed by Edinburgh District.

Playwriting Competition Results

The SCDA acknowledges with gratitude the financial donations from its Honorary President, Richard Wilson OBE, towards the prize money in its Play on Words competitions. SCDA also acknowledges support given by the Scottish Arts Council.

Scott Salver

Play on Words is one of many projects organized and managed by the Playwriting Committee. One of the other activities run by this committee is the annual Scott Salver competition, which is run in conjunction with the National One-act Plays Festival. Again plays entered for this competition are judged on reading, with members of the Playwriting Committee reading and judging all the plays. The winner is traditionally announced at the Scottish Final of the One-act Festival.

Geoffrey Whitworth Trophy

Another project organized by the Playwriting Committee is the Geoffrey Whitworth Trophy. This too is for original plays, which have debut performances in festivals organized by:

• All England Theatre Festival
• Association of Ulster Drama Festivals
• Drama Association of Wales
• SCDA
  

The entry form for the 2010 Geoffrey Whitworth Competition is available from each country's drama association or can be downloaded from this site. Click here for the form.