Since 2022, we've been working with exam board Pearson and publishers Penguin Books on the Lit in Colour Pioneers Pilot Programme, an initiative to help schools diversify their curriculums by adopting a text by an author of colour for study at GCSE or A Level.

NHB has contributed to the programme by donating copies of the brilliant play Sweat by Lynn Nottage, a set text for Edexcel's A Level in English Literature. Schools who signed up to the Pioneers Pilot received a full classroom set of their chosen text, as well as access to support programmes and CPD resources.

So far, the programme has reached over 250 schools and 29,000 learners – and Lit in Colour have just released a report, written by University of Oxford researchers in collaboration with The Runnymede Trust, showing the positive impact a more diverse and inclusive curriculum can have on young people, and the barriers that need to be overcome to achieve further progress.  

The Pioneers Pilot is just one of a number of activities NHB has been involved in to help drive change in this area. We've collaborated on Lit in Colour's Incomplete Play List, and have been working with exam boards AQA, Eduqas and OCR to encourage adoption of new GCSE set texts Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock and Princess & The Hustler by Chinonyerem Odimba – including by commissioning and publishing the first study guides for these texts.

As Lit in Colour's report says, 'change is possible and has begun'. We're committed to playing our part.

Entries for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting – the largest playwriting competition in Europe – are now open until 6pm GMT on Thursday 9 January 2025.

The Prize is open to writers based in the UK and Ireland, and submissions must be original plays (i.e. not adaptations, translations or musicals) over one hour long which have not been previously received a professional production. There are two further awards categories – the International Award (open by invitation via five overseas theatres) and the North West Original New Voice Award and Residency, for writers who live in the North West of England. Further details of each category, eligibility and the entry process can be found here.

A total prize pot of £50,000 is available, and the overall winner will also enter a relationship with the Royal Exchange with the aim of developing their play towards production.

Nick Hern Books has been the proud Publishing Partner of the Bruntwood Prize ever since its inception in 2005, and has so far published almost twenty plays recognised by the Prize – see the full list of plays here. Good luck to everybody entering this year!