First time writer Suzanne Jeans has won this year's Kenneth Branagh Award for new drama writing after a close fought contest between three finalists.

This year's 16th Kenneth Branagh Award competition attracted 266 scripts from 23 countries - whittled down to three finalists, whose plays were staged as part of the Windsor Fringe Festival at the Old Court Art Centre in St Leonard's Road over three nights at the weekend.

Saturday was last night and a packed audience waited with baited breath for Fringe chairman Karen Darville to undo a sealed envelope and reveal the judges decision.

Winner Suzanne Jeans' play called An Absence Of was a semi-autobiographical play exploring the complex relationship between mothers and daughters living with Alzheimers Disease.

Suzanne won the £500 prize. She comes from Cheshire and this was her first play.

The runner-up finalist plays were The Ice Queen by Pete Barrett about the relationship between a flinty career woman and the niece and nephew she has to look after, and One, Two, Three by Adam Colclough detailing the development of a relationship over a 40 year period.