The Wilsons Tales Project New Drama Award.

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The Wilsons Tale Project was started in 2013 to raise awareness and interest in John Mackay Wilson (1804 - 1835) and particularly his world famous publication of “Wilsons Tales of the Borders”, first published in 1834. Wilsons father came from Duns , though Wilson himself was born in Tweedmouith, where he returned to take his roll as editor of the Berwick Advertiser. He had various occupations before that point, including as a playwright, having written four plays we know of, though only one survives.

Wilson himself died less than a year after starting the publication of his Tales. They had however become so successful that they continued to be published for a further 5 years with authors from all over Scotland contributing to the collection.

Part of the projects remit is to encourage new presentation of the Tales by artists and writers of all sorts to modern audiences.

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The Award

The Wilsons Tales Project have commissioned a number of Tales to be presented in various media forms. As part of this we have been delighted to sponsor an award, currently for £300 for a playwright nominated by DunsPlayfest to present a Tale from the original publications as a play. This will then be premiered at DunsPlayfest.

The award has ben running since 2021 and previous winners have been:

Leein’ Jamie Murdeston – by Michael Fenty

The Freebooter of Coldstream – by Anita John

The Apparition of Flodden – by Jane Houston Green

The Monk of St Anthony – by Robert Sproul-Cran

The White Knight – by Eloner Crawford

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In 2026 we have commissioned John Nichol and we will be revealing more about this soon! 

The Wilsons Tales project have now presented more than 40 events and a full list of dramatisations of the tales is available on our website as is more information about Wilson, the Tales and The Project. www.wilsonstales.co.uk