UEA scriptwriters win leading playwriting prizes
By: Communications
Two UEA graduates and scriptwriters, Silva Semericyan and Daisy Miles, have won the Bruntwood Prize – the most prestigious prize for playwrights in Europe, awarded every two years – continuing the University’s strong track record of producing award-winning writers.
The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting is the UK’s largest national playwriting competition, run in partnership between the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester and property company Bruntwood, with 2025 marking the Prize’s 20th anniversary.
Open to writers of any background, the anonymous prize has received more than 17,000 entries since it began, awarding nearly £400,000 to 43 winners, whose plays have gone on to win major awards and reach audiences worldwide.
In its 20 years of running, UEA writers have scooped the top prize twice: Ben Musgrave, Lecturer in Scriptwriting, won in 2005 with his debut play ‘Pretend You Have Big Buildings’; and MA in Scriptwriting graduate Janice Okoh won it in 2011 with her stunning play ‘Three Birds’, which has now been adapted into a major BBC TV comedy ‘Just Act Natural’.
This year's winners come from all parts of the scriptwriting community:
Silva Semericiyan, who completed her PhD last year at UEA, won the Judges Award for her gripping drama ‘Przewalski’s Horses’, which follows a woman escaping Kyiv to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
Daisy Miles, who graduated only last summer from Drama and Creative Writing, was awarded the North-West Original New Voice Award and Residency for her comedy ‘R Lady’s’ – which was her first full-length play, developed for her final year dissertation.
Previous award winner Ben Musgrave was also invited to be part of the 20th ceremony and got to celebrate with generations of UEA scriptwriting talent.
Their amazing achievement continues a run of success with the Bruntwood Prize from two individuals in 2023:
- Martha Loader, MA in Scriptwriting student, won the Judges Award with her play ‘Bindweed’, which then went on to a national tour in 2024
- Patrick Hughes, who graduated from the MA in 2015, won the North-West Original Voices prize for his play ‘Leave the Morning to the Morning’.
Given all nominations are submitted anonymously and are judged by the cream of the theatrical profession, these results confirm UEA's pre-eminence as the home of scriptwriting, from undergraduates to PhD.
Each winning script enters development with the Royal Exchange, with many plays co-produced by theatres across the UK and internationally.
Prize winner Silva noted: “I'm absolutely thrilled to have won the Judges Award in the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. It was especially poignant as this was my second time being shortlisted after 14 years.
“The first was for my master's thesis, ‘I and the Village’, and the second was for this play, ‘Przelwarski's Horses’. Both times, Prof Steve Waters’ incisive feedback at key moments in the development process encouraged me to distil my ideas and know exactly why I was writing.”
Daisy Miles confirms her experience with UEA’s School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing as critical to her success:
“UEA has been an undeniably huge part of the process! Every opportunity I’ve ever had has come through UEA and the tutors who saw something in me, in what was maybe the first time in my life. I wrote most of ‘R Lady’s’ either in the Norwich cathedral library or UEA Library – and the fingerprint it’s left on both this play and my life is ginormous.
“A particular shout out to Michael Lengsfield, who has always showed me such support and kindness. Never ever underestimate how grateful and indebted (literally) I am to UEA.”
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