Sabi Arts Limited Launches the Inaugural Sabi Arts Playwright Prize, an Annual Award for Nigerian Playwrights
Sabi Arts Limited is proud to announce the official launch of the Sabi Arts Playwright Prize, an annual award established to discover, elevate, and support new and emerging Nigerian playwrights. Created to turn attention toward the writers behind the stage, the prize seeks original plays with compelling storytelling, distinctive voices, and exceptional theatrical craft, providing a concrete platform for playwrights to move their work from the page to live audiences.
The Sabi Arts Playwright Prize builds directly upon the foundational vision of its founder, Ibi Kontein a Nigerian researcher, playwright, theatre producer, and director completing her PhD in International Relations at American University. Having established Sabi Arts in 2018, Kontein’s work bridges the gap between empirical policy research and stage performance, confronting critical realities often left outside mainstream theatrical focus: sex work, religion, political autonomy, the women who confronted oil companies in the Niger Delta, and the quiet arguments families conduct in private.
Ibi Kontein, founder of Sabi Arts says;
Research lets me test claims against outcomes, but theatre puts an audience in a room with the person those claims are actually about. The Sabi Arts Playwright Prize extends this commitment to deliberate, socially engaged theatre by investing directly in the dramatists capturing contemporary African life in all its complexity.
Kontein’s own stage productions, including Back For Ground (staged at the MUSON Centre in Lagos) and the job-seeking satire Dear Applicant (which made its UK debut at Theatre Peckham) have been staged across
Lagos, Ogun, Port Harcourt, London, and Edinburgh.
ABOUT THE PRIZE
The Sabi Arts Playwrights Prize is an annual award for Nigerian playwrights aged 18 and above, residing in Nigeria or the diaspora. The prize is open to original, previously unpublished, and unproduced plays.
The inaugural edition features a total cash prize pool of ₦1,400,000 alongside residency, production, and publication opportunities structured into three winning categories:
– The Grand Prize (₦1,000,000): Awarded to the best original play, complete with script development for production in collaboration with Ouida Lagos before a live audience m within 36 months of announcement, and automatic entry into Sabi Arts’ next writer’s residency program.
– The Runner-Up Prize (₦200,000): Awarded for outstanding theatrical craft, accompanied by automatic entry into Sabi Arts’ next writer’s residency program.
– The Julie Okoh Prize (₦200,000): Named after Professor Julie Okoh, one of Nigeria’s foremost women playwrights, Professor of Theatre Theory at the University of Port Harcourt, Fulbright Scholar, and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA). This prize honours a play written by a woman playwright that centres women’s experiences and meaningfully engages with women’s issues. It includes a professionally developed stage reading by Sabi Arts within 12 months (subject to production calendar) and automatic entry into Sabi Arts’ next writer’s residency program. The Julie Okoh Prize is an additional recognition within the Playwright Prize honouring the eponym and her legacy career in using theatre to confront critical issues affecting women.
TIMELINE & SELECTION PROCESS
– Submissions Window: 1st October 2026-20th December 2026
– Longlist Announcement: 31st January 2027
– Shortlist Announcement: 28th February 2027
– Winners Announcement: 31st March 2027
Eligible entries will undergo a three-stage blind review process:
1. An initial reading stage by an anonymous readers’ group to determine the longlist.
2. A second reading stage to select the shortlist.
3. Final jury deliberations to determine the winners.
The inaugural jury consists of renowned theatre and literary practitioners across dramatic writing, directing,
production, and artistic leadership:
– Farah Lawal Harris — Playwright; Artistic Director, Young Playwrights’ Theater
– Kelvin Mary Ndukwe — Creative Director and Producer; Founder, 1000 Stories
– Rufus Nwoko — Artistic Director, New Culture Studio
– Kesiena C. Obue — Playwright and Director; Founder, Kessavier Vanille Productions
LONG-TERM VISION & ANTHOLOGY
The Sabi Arts Prize for Playwrights is conceived as a developing platform for new theatre. As part of this vision, Sabi Arts will digitally publish the inaugural Sabi Arts Playwright Prize Anthology, a curated collection featuring the three winning scripts and three additional shortlisted plays selected by the jury. The anthology will provide a durable literary record and introduce new playwrights to readers, educators, practitioners, and wider audiences.
ABOUT US
About Sabi Arts Limited: Founded in 2018 by Ibi Kontein, Sabi Arts Limited is a theatre company producing deliberate, socially engaged work for the stage. Sabi Arts explores stories that confront social realities across contemporary Nigerian life, bridging art, academic research, and community action.
About Ibi Kontein: Ibi Kontein is a researcher, playwright, and director completing her PhD at the School of International Service, American University, where her research examines state protection rhetoric and women’s security in conflict. A Doctoral Fellow at the Institute on Disability and Public Policy and Student Fellow at the Center for Security, Innovation, and New Technology, she holds an MSc with distinction from Baze University and a BSc from Babcock University.
Media & Partnership Enquiries:
Naomi Akinsanya Partnerships & Outreach Contact, Sabi Arts Playwrights Prize
Email: playwrightsprize@sabiarts.org
Website: sabiarts.org
Instagram: @sabiarts.prize
Facebook: Sabi Arts Playwrights Prize
X (Twitter): @sabiartsprize
