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Awards Watch: The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize

posted by Women & Hollywood
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 1:22pm CST

Enron by Lucy Prebble

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the most prestigious international prize awarded to a female playwright (for writing in English) has named the ten finalists for the 2010 award. The award is basically the Pulitzer for women. It raises the profile of female playwrights, and seven of the former Blackburn winners have also won the Pulitzer.

The 2010 finalists include:

The Aliens” by Annie Baker (U.S.)
“The Language Archive” by Julia Cho (U.S.)
“This” by Melissa James Gibson (U.S.)
“it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now.” by Lucy
Kirkwood (U.K.)
“The Shipment” by Young Jean Lee (U.S.)
“The Nature of Love” by Rebecca Lenkiewicz (U.K.)
“East of Berlin” by Hannah Moscovitch (Canada)
“The Swallowing Dark” by Lizzie Nunnery (U.K.)
“Enron” by Lucy Prebble (U.K.)
“Strandline” by Abbie Spallen (Ireland)

The $20,000 winner will be announced in NY in early March. The judges this year included: actress Hope Davis, Tony-award winning director Doug Hughes; Mark Lawson, BBC Radio host and critic; Todd London, artistic director of New Dramatists (New York); British stage director Indhu Rubasingham: and British actress, Fiona Shaw.
Awards description from Broadway.com:

Established in 1978, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the first international award created to recognize women playwrights, and remains the most important award of its kind. The Prize reflects the values and interests of Susan Smith Blackburn, noted American actress and writer who lived in London during the last 15 years of her life. She died in 1977 at the age of 42, and her sister, Emilie Kilgore, and husband, William Blackburn, established the award in her honor.

Finalists Named For 2010 Blackburn Prize For Women Playwrights (Broadwayworld.com)