image: last year’s Book Prize was won by ‘Straight Acting’ by Will Tosh, seen here with judges Lucy Munro, Tricia Thorns, and Gary Naylor, together with Howard Loxton (on the right)

As Howard Loxton stands down from decades of running the STR Theatre Book Prize – to much warm applause and deep appreciation – Gary Naylor and Kevin Wilson, both previous judges of the prize, are taking over as joint administrators for the Prize to be awarded in 2026 for books on the theatre published in 2025. Gary and Kevin are also very pleased to have secured three eminent judges for next year, and we can now announce them.

The three judges are:

Dr John Godber OBE is a playwright and director. His plays are performed across the world, and he has the distinction of being one of the most performed writers in the English language. He was Artistic Director of Hull Truck for twenty six years, culminating in opening a brand new theatre designed for his work in 2010. He won two BAFTA’s in 2005, an Olivier Award in 1984, and eight LA Theatre Awards in 1989. He wrote Grange Hill with Anthony Minghella and Brookside with Sir Phil Redmond. He has his own production company which tours the U.K. A trained drama teacher, he has a degree in education, a Master’s degree in theatre, and a PhD from Leeds University. He was awarded an OBE for his services to the arts in 2018. He lives near the Humber bridge.

Maryam Philpott is a theatre critic with over 12 years’ experience writing reviews, features and previews for The Reviews Hub team in London covering theatre, dance and film. Her own site Cultural Capital is dedicated to long-form theatre criticism, placing reviews in a broader historical and performance context. With a background in social and cultural history, previous publications include the peer reviewed academic text James Graham: State of the Nation Playwright, the first study of the writer’s work, published by Palgrave Macmillan and shortlisted for the Society for Theatre Research Prize in 2025.

Thomas Hopkins is a theatre producer and general manager whose credits include Rose (The New Ambassadors Theatre) & This Bitter Earth  (Soho Theatre West End), The Talented Mr Ripley and Glorious! (UK tours), Prince Faggot, Becoming Eve (Off-Broadway,) John Proctor is the Villain, Liberation, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake across New York) and Oedipus (Broadway).

He began his artistic journey at an early age, culminating in a full scholarship to the Urdang Academy in Covent Garden to pursue a BA in Musical Theatre, as well as receiving a BA in English and Drama from Middlesex University.

In 2009, Thomas transitioned from performing to production, managing his first West End musical at the Comedy Theatre (now the Pinter Theatre) and his inaugural West End play at Trafalgar Studios. Over the past 20 years, he has garnered extensive experience across various scales and levels of the theatre industry, driven by the guiding principle that “The Future Is Ours to Create.”

Thomas is a distinguished member of both the League of Independent Producers and the Society of London Theatre, as well as a voting member of the Olivier Awards. Furthermore, Thomas is a trustee of the charity Just Add Milk, committed to enhancing accessibility within the industry through workshops, new plays, educational programmes, and the Luke Westlake scholarship.

And here is more about Gary and Kevin:

Gary Naylor has written on theatre, opera and dance for BroadwayWorld since 2008 and for The Arts Desk since 2020. He has a regular cricket column at theguardian.com during the season and also writes occasional features. He has recently taken on a role promoting outreach for the Critics’ Circle Drama Section. From 1990 – 2010, he worked at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, the last four years of which he served as Associate Dean, Faculty of Media. He is proud to have seen a very early performance of Blood Brothers in Liverpool in 1983 – he is less proud to have written it off as too sentimental to succeed.

Gary was a Theatre Book Prize judge in 2025.

Kevin Wilson is an award winning publicist (West End Publicist of the Year  – Fringe Report Awards) celebrating 30 years running his boutique West End PR agency, Kevin Wilson Public Relations, in 2025. He moved into PR three decades ago after 18 years as a print journalist working in London and Hollywood. He has worked consistently in the West End representing some of the biggest and most successful productions, including George Takei’s Allegiance (“backed by an extensive PR campaign that can probably be seen from outer space” – BroadwayworldUK), SIX the musical, The Kite Runner, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, the UK premiere of the Broadway production of Green Day’s American Idiot, Thriller Live (11 years at the Lyric Theatre). Other long-runners include The 39 Steps, Avenue Q, The Rocky Horror Show and The Rat Pack Live from Las Vegas, plus Debbie Reynolds – Alive and Fabulous and Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress By a Life in Progress. Kevin has provided PR support in the UK to a host of major celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta, Patti LuPone, Joan Collins, Joan Rivers, Sandra Bernhard, Candace Bushnell, Roseanne Barr, Glen Campbell, Jerry Lee Lewis, John Leguizamo and Eartha Kitt.

Kevin served as a judge for 2024’s Theatre Book Prize.

Entries for books published in 2025 are now open – contact theatrebookprize@str.org.uk for all details.