New Music Theatre Award
A unique opportunity for ambitious writer/composers to develop and produce their first fully staged musical.Â
what is the NMTA?
The New Music Theatre Award offers new writers the rare opportunity to have their work staged by leading professional creatives, with a large company of young people in a leading UK theatre venue. Writer(s) will receive mentoring from established musical theatre creatives, and bespoke support from the BYMT team. The award is designed to support early-career writers who haven’t had the opportunity to have their work professionally produced before, regardless of age.
The previous winners were Harry and Greta by Lewis Cornay in 2023 and Welcome to Serene by Bethany Tennick and Iona Ramsay in 2024. Both were staged at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich with 40 young performers and musicians, and seen by 1000 people through in-person and livestream performances. The 2025 winner is Eden Tredwell, whose fabulous show, The Gamification of Loki, will be on at Southwark Playhouse from 29-30 August.
Eligibility
This award is intended to support writers and writing teams who have not yet had their work produced professionally. In order to be eligible you must meet the following criteria:
- Writers must not have had their work produced with a paid creative team and paid performers for a run of more than one week*
- Writers must be based in the UK or Ireland.
*This is across all strands of live performance, not just musical theatre. Writers may have been involved creatively in professional runs longer than one week if they were not a lead writer (e.g writers may have provided additional lyrics or orchestrations, but not be credited as Lyricist, Composer, or Bookwriter).
If you have any questions surrounding eligibility, please contact Cerys Jones.
What you need to know
Everything you need to know about NMTA submissions is in our New Music Theatre Award Information Pack, including what we offer to NMTA winners, submissions criteria and the application questions to prepare for.
We strongly recommend you read through this thoroughly before submitting an application.
How to apply
Applications for the NMTA 2026 are now open!
The deadline for submissions is 31st August 2025 at midday.
Writers who are shortlisted will be invited to meet the BYMT team and pitch their idea to a panel of experienced writers and young people.
