The two recipients in the category of Drama for the 2024 Whiting Awards have been revealed. The prizes recognize excellence in emerging writing and literary talent, granting $50,000 to writers in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama.

Shayok Misha Chowdhury and Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig have been named this year's drama receipients. Chowdhury is acknowledged as the playwright and director of Public Obscenities, which “writes with ruthless splendor and inventiveness about the borders of language, sexuality, the public self and the hidden life.” The play ran at SoHo Rep last year, and made its NYC return at Brooklyn's Polonsky Shakespeare Center earlier this year.

Cowhig is acknowledged as the playwright of The China Plays, “whose meticulous and politically acute fables bring the histories of nations, of capital, and of censorship to life.”

Chowdhury and Cowhig will each receive $50,000 to devote themselves full-time to their writing. Previous Whiting Award recipients include Sarah Ruhl, Lucas Hnath, Michael R. Jackson, and more.

For more information, visit www.whiting.org.