The Popcorn Writing Award is the only award celebrating new writing at the Edinburgh Fringe. The award offers a £6,000 prize fund pot that goes directly to writers recognised for their notable, ground-breaking scripts.
It champions brave and imaginative writing which playfully and artistically questions and addresses current affairs and societal trends and contributes positively to public debate.
Partnering venues include Assembly Festival, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Summerhall Arts, Traverse Theatre, Underbelly, Greenside Venues, ZOO Venues, Paradise Green and theSpaceUK.
Plays are eligible if they:
1) Are new pieces of writing with fewer than seven performances prior to the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe.
2) Are being staged during the Fringe at one of the partner venues – Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, theSpaceUK, Summerhall Arts, Traverse, Underbelly, Greenside, Paradise Green or ZOO Venues.
To be considered, writers must send their piece of new writing, a 50-word summary of their play, a 10-word tagline, and a list of the show’s previous performance dates (if any). These materials should be submitted to the programming team at their respective venue with the subject line:
“Popcorn Writing Award 2025 // Title of Play // Writer’s Name // Venue Associated”
Any questions about the award should be directed to awards@popcorngroup.co.uk.
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As part of the award, all shortlisted writers are offered valuable one-to-one meetings with both the Popcorn Group and BBC Writers. All longlisted writers who are resident in the UK and Republic of Ireland will be invited to submit their scripts to BBC Writers via a dedicated portal and will be read in consideration for BBC Writers Voices 2026.
Deadline: 8 July 2025
Source: BBC Writers