Applications now open for LINBURY PRIZE FOR STAGE DESIGN 2025
Photo credit: Ian Tillotson
Applications are now open for the biennial nationwide Linbury Prize for Stage Design, the UK’s leading award for emerging industry design talent. With a mission to jumpstart sustainable, high-impact careers, the prize offers a vital launchpad into the world of professional theatre.
Twelve emerging designers will be selected for this year’s Linbury Prize, receiving a bursary prize of £6,000 to support a Linbury Associate Designer placement with an established designer, giving them mentoring and insider access to the full production process.
Last year’s placements included the opportunity to work alongside established designers on major national productions including Rajha Shakiry on The Hot Wing King (National Theatre), Anna Fleischle on Punch (Nottingham Playhouse, Young Vic), Frankie Bradshaw on Pins and Needles (Kiln Theatre), and Georgia Lowe on Little Shop of Horrors (Crucible Sheffield).
The twelve recipients will also have an unparalleled opportunity to showcase their work to the public at an exhibition at the National Theatre. The Linbury Prize exhibition will open on 2 December and will promote fresh creative voices ready to shape the future of stage design.
The Linbury Prize for Stage Design is presented by the National Theatre and supported by The Linbury Trust who are committed to supporting new talent starting out in the industry and addressing urgent sector-wide skills shortages. The creative industries are one of the eight growth driving sectors the Government has prioritised in its Industrial Strategy, however data from DCMS shows 30% of job vacancies in the cultural sector are affected by skills shortages.
Applications are open to UK graduates from theatre design degree or postgraduate courses graduating in 2024 and 2025, as well as emerging designers without a degree who are in the first three years of their professional practice. This year’s judging panel includes stage and costume designers Jean-Marc Puissant, Rajha Shakiry, Max Johns, and Ian MacNeil. Internationally renowned designer Es Devlin was one of the early recipients of the Linbury Prize in 1995, and since gone on to design sets for shows such as Coriolanus and Dear England as well as receive multiple further awards.
CEO and Executive Director of the National Theatre, Kate Varah, said: "The Linbury Prize has played an unparalleled role in supporting emerging designers into sustainable careers. Widening applications in 2023 to consider non-traditional routes has been vital in making these roles more accessible and demonstrating our ongoing commitment as a skills incubator. Having seen the work from our last set of recipients on not just the National's stages but across the UK, I can’t wait to see the creativity and imagination from this year’s cohort of emerging designers."
Applications are open now and close on 1 September.
For more information and to apply, please visit the Linbury Prize website here.