We are delighted to present our annual Olwen Wymark Theatre Encouragement awards in London on Friday 21 November 2025.
Founded by playwrights Mark Ravenhill and David James (former Chair of the WGGB Theatre Committee), the Olwen Wymark Awards were set up to give WGGB members the opportunity to publicly thank those who have given them a positive experience in new writing over the previous year.
They are named in honour of playwright Olwen Wymark, passionate supporter of WGGB and former Chair of the WGGB Theatre Committee, who died in 2013.
David James, who has organised the award since 2005, said: “We are proud to honour these extraordinary individuals who have provided exceptional support to our playwright members over the past year. Writing thrives when it is encouraged and, in such challenging times, we are inspired to see that this spirit continues to shine through.”
The winners of the 21st annual awards are:
Martin Berry, Creative Director and Joint Chief Executive of Exeter Northcott Theatre
Nominated by Sarah Dickenson for Martin and his team’s support in championing and developing Sarah’s play The Commotion Time – a retelling of the 16th-century Prayer Book Rebellion and Siege of Exeter, in which the seven-strong professional cast shared the stage with an ensemble and choir of 43 local people.
Sarah Dickenson said:
“Martin joined the theatre at the end of 2023 and in January 2024 took a punt on my play The Commotion Time (still in an early draft) as his first in-house production with both professional actors and a large community cast. Martin and his team worked with tireless integrity – centring my vision as a writer, honouring the community whose story it was, finding ways and means to create a sense of scale and historic significance. I have rarely been in a development context in which everyone was able – despite really tight resources – to do their best work with such joy and fellowship. Every part of the theatre worked seamlessly together as a community. Martin put this piece of new work front and centre of his vision for the theatre and stood up after every night of the production and declared that this was his intent. The play sold out on its first night and sold to 80% during its run – incredible for new work in a 500-seat theatre!
“Although I have been a dramaturg for 25 years, this was my first full-scale production in a theatre, and Martin steered me with kindness, respect and insight. The production has led to me receiving a Peggy Ramsay Foundation Playwrights’ 73 Residency this year, enabling me to build on the confidence I gained. Meanwhile, Martin and his team at the Northcott have continued to commission and seed new work: another new play was their centrepiece new writing production, they are supporting a group of writers to work at mid-scale and have much more in the pipeline. The commitment he has shown from the get-go to putting writers and communities at the heart of Northcott’s work is breathtaking.”
Photo of Martin Berry: Lillie Sherry
Sarah Dickenson, playwright and dramaturg
Nominated by Hannah Mulder for Sarah’s unwavering support and skills as a dramaturg and creative collaborator
Hannah Mulder said:
“Sarah is an incredibly insightful creative collaborator who also gives care, skilled confidence-boosting and the ability to offer the right support at the right time. She is not just a dramaturg but a magician. She makes you feel you can overcome whatever obstacles are in your way, creatively and practically.
“Sarah has had a huge impact on my writing and work, encouraging me to believe in my skills at times of low ebb, supporting the development of my work, asking important questions, reading and noting drafts, helping me design my process, and being a cheerleader. In the past two years she supported my return to the industry on a tricky adaptation commission, after a break for caring responsibilities. What initially was an offer to read a draft turned into many sessions on Zoom, text exchanges, conversations and always a supportive voice in my pocket and my head. She helped me to make that play what it was, to make it work structurally, in my voice, and for it to become the play I was excited about it being.
“When I received funding as an individual to develop another new work, Sarah also supported the process as a dramaturg and creative collaborator. She was always interested in the material we were exploring, helping me think through my process in a way that fed and nourished me creatively, while sharing clear, helpful and insightful tools into each step of the writing and development of the ideas.
“Sarah seems to know and understand your demons and the things that keep you from making your best work. She has an uncanny ability with a gentle nudge to articulate what is troubling you and how to reframe it and overcome it. She is stardust to playwriting and I’ve felt very blessed to work with her.”
Diana Isabel Jervis-Read (left) and Sofie Mason (right), joint directors/founders of Adopt a Playwright Award
Nominated by Nicola Baldwin for their support and encouragement via the Adopt A Playwright Award
Nicola Baldwin said:
“In 2023 I was nominated for the Adopt A Playwright Award (AAP), created by these two wonderful women who previously established Off West End and the Offies. As a ‘fostered’ playwright, I benefited from free/subsidised theatre tickets, writing retreats and a community of writers, while being mentored to finish a new play, but it is their personal encouragement that has revitalised my writing life. The fact that Sofie and Diana are closer to my own age than anyone employed to run writers’ initiatives for ‘emerging’ playwrights has been hugely significant. Motherhood and being a carer created a two-decade gap in writing full-length stage plays and a cavernous dent in my confidence. Sofie and Diana’s practical support and encouragement – from arranging a staged reading at the Criterion Theatre to sharing meals and discussing ideas – restored me.
“Through their encouragement, I am braver in my ambitions and more determined to see them through. All funding raised by Sofie and Diana is channelled towards the around 50 playwrights and plays they currently support; working in their own time, without infrastructure or official recognition, endlessly enthusiastic, forward-looking and kind, I am sure that Olwen Wymark would have loved them.”
Kelly Jones, writer and mentor
Nominated by Wendy Fisher for Kelly’s mentorship and support of Wendy as a writer
Wendy Fisher said:
“As my mentor over the past two years, Kelly has supported me to be more confident, to take chances and explore my truths. Kelly has guided my writing technically and been the most positive person I could have wished to work with. Her criticism is always considered and constructive and encouraging.
“I wouldn’t have had the courage to put on a performance of my work or to submit different pieces to competitions, writers’ groups for comment, or just to network my socks off without hearing her voice in my ear telling me that I can do it, that my work is good enough and deserves to be seen. I don’t think I could have achieved half of the things I have with my writing had it not been for Kelly, who deserves to be recognised for the great writer, mentor and all-round brilliant woman she is. I will always be grateful for the help and support she has given me.”
Karis Kelly, playwright and screenwriter
Nominated by Carley Magee for Karis’ mentoring and support, and for platforming her play Stuff & Things & Junk & Belonging at the Front & Centre Playwriting Symposium in Northern Ireland
Carley Magee said:
“For the past two years Karis has mentored, supported and encouraged me in my pursuit of a career in playwriting. They have given me much of their time, offering insights and guidance on how to manage a career in the arts. They have taught me how to set professional boundaries and how to safeguard myself. They have read draft after draft of my work, providing detailed feedback. Karis even secured Arts Council Northern Ireland funding for me to shadow them for a week of the R&D of their play Consumed, teaching me what a safe working environment should look like. They have always been there to encourage and ground me.
“Karis is an inspiring activist and artist. They won the Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2022 for their play Consumed. Despite numerous accolades, they were initially unable to secure programming for the play in Northern Ireland for three years. Instead of being disheartened, Karis set up Front & Centre, a playwriting symposium for women and non-binary writers of the North. They created a rare opportunity – a platform for myself and many artists on which to present work. A reading of my play Stuff & Things & Junk & Belonging, which had been longlisted in 2023 for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting, had its first presentation to an audience at the symposium. As a result of my work being shared, I was asked to come on board theatre projects in paid roles.
“Karis is a huge inspiration for my practice and ethos as a writer. Our conversations fill me with joy and hope about how we can make a more ethical and sustainable arts sector in Northern Ireland. They inspire me to be a better person, never mind artist. I am very excited to see what Karis does next as it only gets bigger and better – and they bring people up with them.”
Davina Moss, Literary Manager, Sherman Theatre
Nominated by Rebecca Jade Hammond for Davina’s constant support of Rebecca’s work as a playwright, more recently with Rebecca’s play Hot Chicks
Rebecca Jade Hammond said:
“My professional relationship with Davina began in 2019 and since then she has been an important person in my life and a constant support. More recently for my current play Hot Chicks, but with others of my plays too, including Welcome To Bettyland and Mad Margot. She has provided me with support when I felt I wasn’t good enough and in difficult situations. Taking phone calls from me late in the evening, getting on Zoom and going way beyond her pay grade to ensure I got a script prepared and to the standard I want to present to the world.
“I have also watched her nurture many Welsh writers. She has dramaturged on multiple projects, giving writers advice and guidance and setting up workshops to improve work being made by writers for theatres in Wales.
“Her knowledge and talent know no bounds and I want to celebrate her work and achievement and the important relationship we have – I do not think I would be at the stage I am as a writer without her. I don’t think a lot of writers in our industry would be where they are without her contribution to the theatre landscape across the UK.”
Sasha Smith, Assistant Curator, Classical Museum, University College Dublin
Nominated by Zsuzsanna Ardó for Sasha’s support and creative inspiration while working on the Spinaria exhibition at the museum, which ran in early 2025
Zsuzsanna Ardó said:
“I am a writer. And a visual artist and a curator. These different aspects of my work are fluid. And cross-pollinate. This was also the case for the Spinaria exhibition: I re-imagined the iconic Hellenic Spinario as a mature woman, thinker and problem solver. Together, Sasha and I derived ways of creating drama in the museum, and my contemporary artwork came alive with dialogue and objects.
“Sasha radiated endless energy and passion for Spinaria. And made me think of my work with new eyes, inspiring me to create a highly effective visual drama, which in turn inspired me to write a short play. Sasha embraced this – rehearsing it under my direction, performing it in tandem with a local broadcaster and poet, and premiering it as part of the exhibition opening. Sasha performed the role brilliantly and published the play as part of the exhibition booklet and dedicated time to speak about Spinaria to the press. Thanks to Sasha’s extraordinary ability to tap into my imaginative process, Spinaria not only came alive in images, then in the words of a play, but also in 3D… and live – well beyond the original plan. Thank you, Sasha.”