The winner of the prestigious Nagtegaal Text Prize for 2025 is Namaqualand writer, actress and theatre-maker Dianne du Toit Albertze.
The Nagtegaal Text Prize is the biggest scriptwriting competition in South Africa and was revived in 2024 in collaboration with the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees. For her winning script, Huis van sand (House of Sand), Du Toit Albertze receives a cash prize of R100 000, mentorship and support in finalizing the script, as well as a performance run at this year’s Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees. Additionally, the award-winning actress for whom she wrote the lead role, Tinarie van Wyk Loots, has already agreed to the role.
“The winning play was chosen for its outstanding use of theatrical techniques, including minimal set design that sparks the imagination, and physical performance that enriches the emotional landscape,” says playwright and panel member Nico Scheepers.
“The writer’s unique voice is clearly evident in the bold thematic choices and nuanced characterisation. What stands out especially is the consistent vision throughout—a clear aesthetic and dramaturgical direction that is both innovative and moving.”
The runners-up are André Gerber in second place with his script Die kabinet (The Cabinet) and Lee Doubell in third place with Kom komeet, kom (Come Comet, Come). Gerber and Doubell will receive R50 000 and R25 000 respectively, along with mentorship. The 2025 competition received 77 entries from both established and emerging writers. Due to the high quality of submissions, the selection panel decided to invite two additional writers for mentorship, who will receive R12 000 each in prize money: Philip Rademeyer with Patria and Jackie Lätti with Die pop (The Doll).
The panel consisted of esteemed theatre-makers and writers: Deon Opperman, Jason Jacobs, Jolyn Phillips, Saartjie Botha, and Scheepers. Their decisions were guided by the following criteria: Diversity in casting—which had to be specified in the script—a strong narrative, stageability, an experimental approach, and literary merit.
For Dirk Nagtegaal, co-founder of the Nagtegaal Text Prize in 2002, the motivation has always been opportunity and the showcasing of quality theatre.
“The panel’s decision to invite two additional writers for mentorship speaks to what has been achieved with this competition—it has attracted the country’s leading writers,” says Nagtegaal.
Botha, director of the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees, is very excited about the prize and this year’s winner. “The prestige, prize money, and the opportunity to truly refine a script before it is staged generates great excitement and motivation in the industry,” she says.
After a difficult four years away from theatre, Du Toit Albertze says she “prayed long for this relief.”
“I have done many productions without a cent. I made peace with the fact that my time in Afrikaans theatre was over. Although the best work is made possible by teams and support, in theatre, you often have to work on your own. So, this prize and mentorship is invaluable,” says Du Toit Albertze.
She was recently back on stage for the first time in four years in her one-woman show Katrina Kakkerlak at Kaapstad Toneelhuis in Cape Town. She is also the author of the first trans novel in Afrikaans, bottelnek breek bek, which made the shortlist for the Jan Rabie-Rapport Prize in 2022.
“Huis van sand is about our childhoods catching up with us as adults. It explores toxic femininity, that which gets passed from mother to daughter, from one generation to the next—especially trauma, and how a family can both destroy and support each other,” says Du Toit Albertze.
Huis van sand explores the relationship between mother and daughter, Sandy and Babs (played by Van Wyk Loots), in a caravan park in Du Toit Albertze’s hometown—Springbok. Babs and Sandy live off the leftovers of their past. The four walls of their caravan know many secrets, and though it’s a humble little home, it’s the girls’ little palace, their sandcastle. Sandy left her nomadic life near the N7 behind to start a life in Rodney’s caravan just outside Springbok. The bottle was put away to raise Babs. Along with that came growing pains and inherited sins. As an adult, Babs does her best to rinse the blood from memory and move forward as a teacher at the local primary school. Yet, the dust storms keep catching up with her time and time again. The cold fire of Sandy and Babs’s memories takes the audience on a journey of imagination, a train ride deep within where boundaries begin to blur.
Further details about the full cast, director, and performances of Huis van sand at the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees will be announced over time on our platforms and in the festival program in June.
The 25th Woordfees will take place from October 11 to 19 in Stellenbosch. Entries for the 2026 competition are now open until December 5, 2025. Find the entry form below.
