The Great Panathenaea

Old Sovereign Publishing are delighted to launch The Great Panathenaea. 

This is the event of 2026. 

A $2000 prize and a book contract with 10% royalties (on the full RRP). 

The two finalists will have 1 Act of their play performed on the London stage by the players of The Base. 

The winner will be acclaimed on the theatre floor by the entire audience of a large London stage and crowned with the laurels of victory. 

The play must be based on an episode in the Lives of Plutarch. No matter how small an anecdote, we want you to turn it into an entire world of human life and emotion. If you want to use an entire biography, you are free to do so. What we desire is that, like Shakespeare, you use Plutarch as the source material for your play, drawing from the deep well of its wisdom and experience, to craft something worth adding to the pool of human achievement. 

For example, if you wish to dramatise the sack of Rome by Brennus and the Gauls, taken from the life of Camillus you are free to do so. If you wish to take a small anecdote like the heroics of Gaius Mucius Scaevola taken from the life of Publicola, you are again free to make a world out of these few short paragraphs. Likewise, if you wish to engineer the entirety of a life, like Shakespeare’s treatment of the life of Antony or Coriolanus, as the basis for Antony & Cleopatra and Coriolanus respectively, you are free to do so. Maybe for you it will be the life of Alcibiades, or, if you dare, Alexander himself.

For guidance on where to source the content for these plays we suggest starting with the list of biographies in this wikipedia article on the subject. The lives can be found online for free in various formats. We also encourage you to listen to the relevant podcast episodes from our friend Alex Petkas over at The Cost of Glory Podcast.

The requirement is to submit 1 Act of your play with a scene plan for the rest of the play, to be completed within 6 months of submission. If you wish to submit a full play or partially completed play we would be very happy to receive these. There are no restrictions on how you construct your play.

The Deadline for submission is Monday 3rd August 2026 

The play will be performed in December 2026 

Act worthy of yourselves! 

As such events offer the opportunity for unlimited artistic expression, we also want to give artists the opportunity to contribute to this project. We are offering $500 to the artist who can come up with a poster for the event. Whether your inspiration is the Belle Epoque, Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha, or something else entirely, we want a beautiful, hand painted poster for the event. To this end we are opening the commission to tender. If you can submit 3 images of works you have completed that are your inspiration for the work of the poster by Friday 20th of February and we will select an artist for the commission.

All submissions for writing and artworks should be submitted to hello@oldsovereignpublishing.com 

For Partners & Sponsors: We welcome any like minded individuals or groups, who would like to contribute to the development of - rather than merely critique - culture, as partners and sponsors in this event. Please reach out directly to the Director of OSP, George Carter at george.carter@oldsovereignpublishing.com 

Help us turn this into a sensation! 

Small Print: 

Writers: You grant Old Sovereign Publishing the right to publish the play in perpetuity at a 10% royalty. The right is exclusive for 5 years, after which it becomes non-exclusive. The Base reserves the right to perform the play for a one-week period. Old Sovereign Publishing retains the option to solicit the play for film & television productions during the exclusive period.