Wiltshire playwrights are being urged to put pen to paper to come up with an original one act play.

The One Act Playwriting Competition is for writers in the South West only, and it is being organised by Theatre Hub, who recently brought their production of the poignant drama Dominion to Swindon, starring Carly Barnes and James Osben.

The play, written by Theatre Hub's artistic director Max Brandt, was voted winner of the Swindon Choice Award at the recent Fringe Festival in the town.

Max said: "We have toured through three of the South West counties with Dominion, receiving magnificent praise in Devon, Cornwall and Wiltshire but it was the Swindon audience that voted this production as their choice of the festival.''

The competition is open for entries until midnight on September 30 and needs to be between 30 minutes and 45 minutes long with a maximum of four characters. It must be original, unperformed, unpublished and unproduced.

The top three plays will be performed by Theatre Hub actors in November, in front of a voting audience, and the winning play will win £200 and the possibility of having the play published.

Jane Windsor-Smith, joint artistic director with Max, said: ''There are very many writing competitions out there and many of them lay down very specific criteria with regard to subject and region.

"Our competition, whist being for South-West region writers only, has no such guidelines. All we ask is that it has minimum set requirements. We want writers to pitch in and have fun!''

The judging panel will be made up of producers, writers, directors and actors.

Jane said: "We want to see new stories being told in regional theatres all over the South West, stories that can persuade audiences back into the theatre and away from the television.''

Entry costs £10 for more details visit www.theatrehub.uk - Flicky Harrison