The Ministry of Culture, after the completion of the work of the three competent Committees (State Prize for Playwriting, State Prize for Playwriting for Children and State Prize for Young Playwrights “Chrysa Spilioti”), announces the 2022 State Prizes for Playwriting.

The awards are as follows:

1. State Prize for Playwriting          Πρώτο βραβείο, απονέμεται ομοφώνως, από κοινού στα έργα:

a) “The Below” by Zeti (Georgia-Paraskevi) Fitsiou, submitted to the competition under the pseudonym “Aliki Karnezou“.

b) «Terra Incognita» by Eleftheria Michaelidis, submitted to the competition under the pseudonym “Irini Aggelidi“.

According to the Commission’s reasoning, these are two plays characterised by original and interesting dramaturgy, clear characterisation and imagination. Their themes are original and the human presence is in dialogue with contemporary issues.

The 2022 State Prize for theatrical work is accompanied by a cash prize of seven thousand (7,000) euros.

In addition, the Commission awards Commendations to four projects:

a) “The Valley of Poppies” by Demetrios Alexiou, submitted to the competition under the pseudonym “Vladimir Zeletin“,

b) “Leni’s Speech” by Styliani Heretis, submitted to the competition under the pseudonym “Myrsini Zacharias“,

c) «Blood Demy» by Εleni Κostopoulou, submitted to the competition under the pseudonym«Dylan_Akulinos» and

d) “The Passage” by Anna Pitta, submitted to the competition under the pseudonym “Somehow“.

The Commission singles out these four works, according to its rationale, for their virtues and points out the very important promises that these works and their authors hold for the future.

The Commission also unanimously proposes to the Ministry of Culture the immediate and continuous support of the text and the Greek language.

A total of 76 projects were submitted to the competition.

The Commission is composed of:

Nikos Diamantis, director, as president

and the members:

Αmalia Kontogianni, theatrologist, head of dramaturgy and member of the Evaluation and Judging Committee of the NTNG,

Peggy Stathakopoulou, actress,

Andreas Flourakis, playwright,

Betty Arvanitis, actress.

2. State Prize for Children’s Playwriting

The State Prize for Children’s Theatre Work 2022 is unanimously awarded to the play “My Brother from the Stars” by Angeliki Darlasis, submitted to the competition under the pseudonym “Anna Dimou“.

The rationale for the award:

It is a theatrical text with a contemporary and original theme which refers to the relationship between two sisters, a girl and a boy. It focuses with tenderness, sensitivity and, above all, respect, on the way in which the girl tries to explore the special world of her brother, who is on the autism spectrum. Around this central dramatic condition, a play is built with a fast pace, external and internal action, which has morphological and dramaturgical virtues: the characters are solid and integrated, the plot is layered and consistent, the use of narration through the main character as a tool to communicate with the child audience is balanced, the discourse is modern, simple and layered while distancing techniques ensure the lack of melodrama, the use of many audiovisual media in the representation of the world as perceived by the children, the use of the world as it is perceived by the children, and the use of a variety of visual and audio-visual media in the representation of the world as it is perceived by the children. It is of course a given that in the case of a public presentation, further research and dialogue with experts on the particularly sensitive issue of the presentation of people on the autism spectrum and the perception that others have on the way they perceive the world should precede the presentation, as this is a topic that has so far been little addressed by professional Greek children’s dramaturgy.

“My Brother from the Stars” is an original, potentially performable text that remains “open”, seeking its staged mediation and emergence on the theatre stage for underage audiences and which can move, delight, but also problematize young readers and viewers by touching on issues such as the power of love, the acceptance of diversity, empathy.

The prize comes with a cash prize of €5,000.

The Committee also unanimously awards a Commendation to the work “Once in Hamelin” by Maria Chios, submitted to the competition under the pseudonym “Melissa“.

The rationale for the commendation is as follows:

The play is an attempt to dramatize the fairy tale “The Courtier of Hamelin”, which was recorded and made famous by the Brothers Grimm. It is a well-written text which has a great sense of economy in dramatic devices (4 roles/one stage space). The theatrical form is rightly served to a large extent by, embossed relationships of persons on stage live dialogue, although in places it falls short of orality. The story progresses through the dialogic parts mainly through the description (through the characters) of events occurring in other – off-stage – places and times. A more complete and broader development could probably achieve this goal more fully, moving beyond the ‘magical’ world of the fairy tale and extending the ideological and value background to the present day. It remains, however, a play with theatrical virtues in its development, with tenderness, sensitivity and respect for the underage audience.

The Commission Decision, in its entirety, is accompanied by the following introductory/explanatory text:

The Commission studied with particular attention the thirteen (13) projects submitted to the competition and notes the following:

The alarmingly low number of entries was a point of intense concern and a central point of the Commission’s discussions as the competition seems to have been on a downward trend in recent years. Moreover, in the majority of the works, the absence of a solid dramatic framework favouring and highlighting dramatic situations, conflicts and characters was observed, given, in addition, the lack of orality in the speech, the deletion of schematic characters, dramatic gaps and the lack of a clear objective. It was also surprising that there were plays with clear stereotypical, sexist and even nationalist references, which have no place in contemporary drama and, above all, in drama for children and young people. The Commission believes that the Competition should be targeted at the new creative forces that exist and are currently active in the field of playwriting, encouraging them to become involved in writing for underage audiences.

Despite the concern caused on multiple levels by the majority of the works submitted, the two that were unanimously singled out by the Committee and proposed for the Prize and the Commendation are extremely remarkable theatrical projects that can immediately make their way to the stage.

The Commission consists of:

Τakis Tzamargias, director, actor, teacher, member of the Special Educational Staff of the NKUA., as chairman

and the members

Μaria Κarananou, theatrologist, Head of Publications and Bookshop-Shop of the National Theatre Greece,

Maria Dimaki – Zoras, Assistant Professor of Theatrology at the Department of Primary Education of the University of Athens, with the subject “Theatrology: modern Greek Drama and Culture” and Consultant – Professor at the Hellenic Open University, in the postgraduate program “Creative Writing”,

Dimitra-Vicroria Panagou, a dramatic writer, set designer,

Eduardo – Dimitrios Georgiou, set designer, architect.

3. State Prize for Young Playwrights “Chrysa Spilioti”

First prize is unanimously awarded to the work “Salty Letters” by Maria Psarologos, which was submitted to the competition under the pseudonym “Demon Self“.

According to the Commission’s reasoning, this is a theatrical text which, as a whole, has qualities that make it excellent and interesting material for performance. It has an integrated conception of the idea, on which the action is solidly structured and develops, with the expressive tools of theatrical language clearly employed. It succeeds, through only two people on stage and the relationship between them (as it escalates from image to image), in bringing to life with genuine emotion an entire world that has passed away – in its dominant characteristics – irreversibly, drawing its plot from the past, but aiming at the emotions of the modern spectator. It therefore constitutes, dramaturgically, an artistic product suitable to be fruitfully exploited in a possible theatrical realization.

The State Writing Award for Young Playwrights “Chrysa Spilioti” 2022 is accompanied by a cash prize of 5.000 euros.

A total of 26 projects were submitted to the competition.

The State Prize Committee for Young Playwrights consists of: Antonis Antoniou, director, actor, as chairman and the members:

Lea Vitalis, playwright,

Leonidas Prousalidis, playwright,

Lilly Μeleme, director, actress,

George Voudiklaris, theatre and dance critic

The independent theater troupes that will include in their repertoire works that have been honored with a State Playwriting Award are subsidized by the Ministry of Culture for their staging, under the conditions that apply from time to time.