The next great queer play could be yours. Submissions for the Queer Playwriting Award 2027 are now open.
Every unforgettable theatre production begins with a story. A spark of an idea. A character who refuses to leave your mind. A moment of truth that deserves to be heard.
For more than a decade, the Queer Playwriting Award (QPA) has been helping LGBTQIA+ playwrights transform those ideas into fully realised works for the stage. Now in its twelfth year, the award has become one of Australia's most respected development opportunities for emerging and established queer theatre-makers, creating a pathway from script to stage while championing authentic LGBTQIA+ stories.
If you've been waiting for the right moment to submit your work, this is it.
Submissions for the Queer Playwriting Award 2027 are now open and close on Friday 17 July 2026.
Find out more and apply here Queer Playwriting Award (QPA)
From personal grief to powerful theatre
Anthony Nocera is the 2026 winner of the annual Queer Playwriting Award - a collaboration between Gasworks Creative Precinct and Midsumma Festival. Anthony's story is a reminder of exactly why the Queer Playwriting Award exists.
Anthony's winning work, My Hair is Thinning, captivated the panel and audiences alike with its remarkable blend of humour, vulnerability and emotional honesty.
At its heart, the play is about loss.
Loss of hair. Loss of lovers. Loss of the people and moments that shape who we become.
Inspired by Anthony's own experience following the death of his fiancé Jamie in 2022 after complications from leukaemia treatment, My Hair is Thinning finds unexpected comedy within profound grief. It's a story that is deeply personal while remaining universally human, an example of queer storytelling at its very best.
Anthony met Jamie Anderson when he was twenty-one. What began almost accidentally, initially framed as research material for future writing, became seven years of life together.
“I’ve grown up alongside this man. I finished uni and started working and travelled overseas. I did all these things that are hallmarks of adulthood. All that happened alongside him.”
“I genuinely believe that when we first laid eyes on each other… we immediately fell in love. We built a house together.”
- Anthony Nocera
As Artistic Director of Melbourne Theatre Company, Sam Strong, said:
"Anthony Nocera's My Hair is Thinning spins comedy gold from personal tragedy and we can't wait to see it realised in a full production."
As the 2026 Queer Playwriting Award recipient, Anthony will now receive ongoing development support to bring the work to life as a full-length production in the Midsumma Festival 2027 program, continuing the award's commitment to nurturing exceptional new Australian theatre.
Read the original Capturing Courage interview with Anthony by Karen Bryant
Photos by Karen Bryant - Capturing Courage PRIDE Series
Image: Anthony Nocera. Photo by Karen Bryant
More than an award, it's a launchpad
Since 2015, the Queer Playwriting Award has helped discover and develop some of Australia's most exciting LGBTQIA+ playwrights. Each year, four finalists present excerpts of their work during Midsumma Festival, with one recipient receiving ongoing dramaturgical and production support to bring their script to life.
Past winners have gone on to develop critically acclaimed productions, including works by Tom Ballard, Danish Sheikh, Callum Mackay, Lucy Holz, Maeve Marsden and Rory Godbold. The award has consistently uncovered some of Australia's most exciting queer playwrights, helping stories move from the page to the stage while enriching the nation's cultural landscape.
It's more than recognition. It's an investment in the future of queer theatre.
The Queer Playwriting Award exists because representation on our stages matters, not only for LGBTQIA+ communities but for Australian theatre as a whole.
Every submission brings a new perspective. Whether your work is funny, confronting, intimate, experimental or deeply personal, we're looking for stories that only you can tell.
Could you be the next Queer Playwriting Award winner?
If you've been working on a script, this is your invitation to share it. We're looking for bold, original stories that celebrate the diversity of LGBTQIA+ experiences. Your work could be the next to move audiences, spark conversation and join the growing legacy of the Queer Playwriting Award.
Submissions for the Queer Playwriting Award 2027 are now open, applications close at 5:00pm on Friday, 17 July 2026.
Find out more, check the eligibility criteria and submit your work.
Image: Anthony Nocera. Photo by Karen Bryant
