Sabi Arts Playwright Prize: How Nigerian Writers Can Take Their Stories to the Stage
The Sabi Arts Playwright Prize offers a ₦1 million top award and a stage production. Check eligibility and the December 20 deadline.
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A finished script deserves a chance to meet an audience. The inaugural Sabi Arts Playwright Prize offers Nigerian writers that possibility through cash awards, development opportunities and a professional production of the winning play.
Entries are open to Nigerian playwrights aged 18 or older, whether living in Nigeria or abroad. Submission is free, and the closing deadline is 20 December 2026 at 11:59 p.m. WAT.
There is ₦1.4 million across three prizes:
| Award | Cash prize | Additional opportunity |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Prize | ₦1,000,000 | Professional production of the winning play |
| Runner-Up | ₦200,000 | Entry into the writers’ residency |
| Julie Okoh Prize | ₦200,000 | Staged reading and mentorship |
All three awards include residency access. The Julie Okoh Prize recognises a woman playwright whose work centres women’s lives and experiences. Applicants seeking that consideration must select the relevant box on the submission form. A writer cannot receive more than one prize in this edition.
The manuscript requirements deserve careful attention:
- Submit one original, full-length play, written in English.
- The play must be previously unpublished and unproduced.
- Co-authored works and adaptations are ineligible.
- Upload a legible PDF with numbered pages, no longer than 75 pages.
- Remove identifying details from the manuscript and its filename.
Words or phrases in other languages may be included with a glossary, which does not count towards the page limit. Personal information belongs in the submission form, keeping the script anonymous for assessment.
Sabi Arts permits standard editing and proofreading tools but prohibits AI-generated dramatic content. Its rules also state that submitted entries cannot be edited or replaced afterwards.
Before uploading, read the rights provisions. Writers retain copyright, but winners grant a three-year exclusive production licence. Separate anthology publication terms apply to selected scripts.
A useful final check is to open the exported PDF itself: inspect the page numbers, filename and headers, then read dialogue aloud to catch anything that feels awkward in performance.
The longlist is scheduled for 31 January 2027, the shortlist for 28 February, and the winners for 31 March.
Apply through: Sabi Arts’ official prize page, which links to its Moksha submission portal. Read the complete submission guidelines before entering.
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