A FLEDGLING playwright from Malvern has seen his latest play win a prestigious national award.

Paul Jenkins' Natural Selection impressed the judges of the 2005 King's Cross New Writing Award with its inventiveness and bold sense of humour.

"It was a huge and lovely shock, as I had convinced myself I would not win," said Paul.

Paul grew up in Malvern and started acting at Worcester's Swan Theatre before going to drama school in London, where he is now based.

He hopes that winning one of the most prized awards in the country for new writers will be a springboard to success.

"It should attract a lot of industry interest and will hopefully be the start of my professional writing career," he said. "If it goes well, there's the possibility I'll get a commission from one of the bigger theatres."

He began writing after acting for 10 years, and thought up Natural Selection last year while studying for an MA in playwriting at Goldsmith's College, Uni-versity of London.

He entered for the award at the last minute after hearing about it through friends.

The play will be produced professionally at The Courtyard at Covent Garden next summer. The award judges will choose a director, but Paul would like to be involved with the production.

"How the play is realised depends entirely on the director, but hopefully I can have some input," he said.

Paul wrote the play, which is set in a small Welsh mining village, as an allegory of the recent war in Iraq.

While it is in production, Paul will keep busy, working on new projects and continuing with a teaching job at Goldsmiths.

"I've been acting and latterly writing for 10 years, but it very rarely pays the rent," he explained.

If Paul's success continues, we may see his plays staged in Malvern in the future.

"For me, it would be perfect to bring a play to Malvern as a professional production," he said.