THE UK's oldest literary awards have added a new category to honour writing for the theatre.
The James Tait Black Prizes will include a new category for drama that will be judged alongside the existing awards for fiction and biography.
The prize for the best original new play will be organised by the University of Edinburgh in partnership with the National Theatre of Scotland.
Judges will award the accolade to an original voice in theatre and one that they feel has made a significant and unique contribution to the art form.
The prize is open to any new work by playwrights from any country.
The National Theatre of Scotland will perform the winning play as a public reading during the August festivals in Edinburgh. The first winner of the annual award will be announced in August next year.
Founded in 1919, the awards' past winners include DH Lawrence, Graham Greene and Ian McEwan.
Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea, principal of the University of Edinburgh, said: "The James Tait Black Prizes have a very long history of celebrating the work of great novelists and biographers and it is wonderful that we can now extend this to recognise original drama."
Theatre companies and agents are invited to nominate scripts by February 28, 2013.
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