The winner is decided by the votes of a panel of leading New Zealand artistic directors and script advisors.
The award is named after New Zealand's playwright Bruce Mason CBE (1921–1982).
Mason's best known plays are The End of the Golden Weather and the Pohutukawa Tree.
[1][2][3] The award was established by Independent Newspapers in 1983, the year after Mason's death, with assistance from Playmarket, for an amount of $2,000.
[4] It is currently a $10,000 award managed by Playmarket and has been funded over the years by the FAME Trust (Fund for Acting and Musical Endeavours), Downstage Theatre Society, Bruce Mason Trust and Rachel and David Underwood.