Lucy Kirkwood's bold, epic thriller Chimerica was named Best Play at the 59th Evening Standard Theatre Awards last night (17 November), with NHB authors Rory Kinnear and Richard Eyre also among the winners.

A gripping political examination and engaging personal drama, Chimerica tells the story of an American photojournalist who witnessed the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989, and who twenty-three years later sets out to find the subject of his most famous photograph - the mysterious Tank Man.

First premiering at the Almeida Theatre in May 2013, in a co-production with touring company Headlong, Chimerica received rave reviews, including five-star write-ups from the Guardian,Telegraph, Evening Standard and Time Out, with the latter proclaiming it 'the play of the year'. It later transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End. All of Lucy Kirkwood's plays are published by Nick Hern Books.

Rory Kinnear was named as Best Actor for his performance as Iago in the National Theatre's production of Othello, sharing the award with his co-star Adrian Lester. Rory was also nominated for the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright for his heartfelt, debut play The Herd, which premiered at the Bush Theatre in October.

Richard Eyre won the Best Director prize for his production of Ghosts. A new version of Ibsen's classic family tragedy - also written by Eyre - Ghosts opened at the Almeida Theatre in September, and will transfer to Trafalgar Studios from 9 December. Both the script to Ghosts and Richard Eyre's book Talking Theatre are published by NHB.

Elsewhere, Bob Crowley scooped the Best Design Award for his work on Once, The Audience and People. With a book by Enda Walsh, Once won eight Tony Awards on its debut on Broadway, and is currently playing at the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End.