Created to recognize, value, and encourage dramatic writing by female authors in the Portuguese language, the New Playwriting Prize for Female Authors annually distinguishes an unpublished work. The prize is intended for authors with or without published or publicly presented work, promoting the emergence of new voices and contributing to the diversity of contemporary theatrical writing.
Between January 1st and March 31st, we received 178 applications for the 6th edition of the prize—the highest number of entries ever recorded. Faced with a particularly competitive edition, the jury selected three finalist works:
Constança Bourgard , with Mother's Love
Lara Duarte , with Cry Baby From Hell
Raquel Castro de Souza , with Sun on Her Head
Click on the links above to learn more about the finalist authors and their respective works.
Over the next three months, the finalist authors will participate in an optional mentoring and dramaturgical development process, conducted in dialogue with the jury members. Once this stage is complete, the winning work will be announced in early October.
The winning text will be awarded a monetary prize of €1,000, will be published as a book, and will be included in the program of the Festim de Leituras de Textos de Teatro – Esta noite grita-se, in 2026, in a public reading that will also mark the launch of the book and will take place at the São Luíz Teatro Municipal, in Lisbon, on November 28 and 29.
The previous edition was marked by the awarding of the Prize to Sabrina Marthendal for her work Pedral, with the award ceremony, book launch and public reading held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in December 2025.
Over the past few years, the Prize has also recognized authors such as Luz Ribeiro (Lacuna, 2024), Sofia Perpétua (Tanque, 2023), Maria Giulia Pinheiro (Isso não é positivo, 2022) and Lara Mesquita (Sempre que acordo, 2021).
Meet our Jury
In this 6th edition of the New Playwriting Prize for Female Authors, we once again have an excellent panel of judges, made up of leading professionals in the field of drama. Find out more about each of them by exploring their biographies!
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Some relevant data
The New Playwriting Prize for Female Authors aims to promote, recognize and publicize female-authored dramaturgy in Portuguese and is aimed at all natural persons, of legal age, who identify with the female gender, whether cisgender or transgender.
This award aims to promote, recognize and disseminate drama written by women in Portuguese. The competition is open to all natural persons, of legal age, who identify as female, whether cisgender or transgender, and who want to propose a Unpublished and never performed dramaturgical work.
According to the International Center for Women Playwrights, an NGO dedicated to encouraging the work of women playwrights, 70% of the plays produced annually in the world are by men. When it comes to publishing works, the number drops even further - in Portugal we estimate that less than 15% of the texts edited are by women. This panorama in no way favors the diversity and richness of artistic production, hindering the innovation brought by the female gaze of female creators who, without adequate stimulus, continue to be far from the circuits necessary for the dissemination of their works. In the artistic direction of Esta Noite Scream, we have had difficulty balancing the authorial genre because the choice options are very limited when it comes to female playwrights. Only by encouraging creation will it be possible to change this reality and ensure that more women artists take risks and publish their work.
Here are some useful links for those who want to delve a little deeper into this topic:
https://www.womenarts.org/not-even/not-even-impact-of-playwrights-gender/
https://lafpi.com/the-facts/#10
https://www.womenplaywrights.org/The-Challenge
Consulting the Frequently Asked Questions does not replace careful reading of the Regulations.
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