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The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust has created two new awards for playwrights, one of which carries a cash prize of $200,000 -- a major sum for an arts kudo, particularly in the legit world.

The $200,000 check comes with the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, to be handed out biennially to a mid-career scribe. First recipient will be announced this fall.

A second biennial award, to be inaugurated next year, will go to two young writers at the start of their legit careers. Each recipient of the Steinberg Emerging Playwrights Award scores $50,000.

There is no application process. Selections will be made by an advisory panel with significant experience in new play development, including Lincoln Center Theater a.d. Andre Bishop, Public Theater a.d. Oskar Eustis and South Coast Rep producing a.d. David Emmes.

The $200,000 prize is one of the largest a playwright can receive. Legit scribes can nab a MacArthur "genius" grant of $500,000, but that honor is not specifically targeted to playwrights.

The Steinberg trust, established to support and promote American theater, has given more than $40 million to nonprofit legit orgs since its inception in 1986. James A. Steinberg, a trust board member, said he hoped the new accolades would help boost recognition of playwrights in national culture.

"For a number of years, we've been looking for a way to raise the profile of the American playwright, in the way the Pritzker award did for architecture," Steinberg said. "By doing something with this size of a cash award, we hope to get the attention of people outside the industry."

Also on the advisory board for the new legit nods are Polly K. Carl, producing a.d. of Playwrights Center in Minneapolis; Martha Lavey, a.d. of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater; Intar a.d. Eduardo Machado; and Marc Masterson, a.d. of Actors Theater of Louisville, the annual home of the Humana new play fest.

Prizes will be handed out at an annual dinner in Gotham.