The Kentucky Women Writers Conference awards a biennial Prize for Women Playwrights to bring more scripts by women to the stage, through a collaboration among our program, partnering director Eric Seale, and guest judge Ifa Bayeza. The winner receives a world premier production for a paying audience in November 2019, with royalties, plus a cash prize of $500. The winning script may be workshopped prior to its production. If you would like to receive our bi-monthly listserv with updates about this contest and our other programming, please send your request to...

Est. 1979. Kentucky Women Writers is the longest running literary festival of women in the nation, launched to showcase the talents and issues unique to female writers. Foremost, KWWC is a national event: typically 8 of 10 featured presenters and 30-40% of conference registrants hail from out-of-state. We feature the work of women writers only but welcome men to our audiences. For readers we offer "non-workshop" registration that costs less and gains admission to all readings, panel discussions, craft talks, and publishing advice--which can be relevant not only for writers but also for...

Est. 2013 by Studio Players. Our 10-Minute Play Festival is presented annually. We present 7 strong, entertaining plays to feature. This competition is open to any playwright. The judges are members of the Studio Players theater community: board members, directors and patrons. The top 7 scripts (as determined by the judges) will be performed by active members of the Bluegrass theater community. Each play will be a fully staged production; each performance showing all winning scripts. The 7 Selected playwrights will each receive $250 in prize money.

The Sara Spencer Child Drama Award recognizes the work of an individual or organization for dynamic and engaging work for young people. This award honors children’s theatre pioneer and founder of the Children’s Theatre Press (now the Anchorage Press) Sara Spencer. Spencer was the first recipient of SETC’s Suzanne M. Davis Award in 1965.

Musical works including, but not limited to, choral, orchestral, chamber, song-cycle, dance, opera, musical theater, extended solo. Accompanied by a prize of $100,000, which is presented in full during the awards ceremony. See website for details.

THESPIAN PLAYWORKS nurtures original student-written plays from the page to the stage. The program staff will choose up to four plays to be developed at the International Thespian Festival, sponsored by Concord Theatricals. Professional directors and dramaturgs will help the chosen finalists workshop and present their plays with student actors. Eligibility Writers must be active members of the International Thespian Society enrolled in high school during the current school year. All finalists must be available to attend the upcoming International Thespian Festival. Finalists will be...

The Woodward/Newman Award is an exclusive honor offered by Constellation Stage & Screen, started through the support of Joanne Woodward, Newman’s Own Foundation, and the Newman family, celebrating Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward’s tremendous history of work on stage and screen. It presents the best unpublished play of the year with a cash prize of $3,000 and a full production as part of Constellation’s Mainstage season. Please note that there are significant changes to our submission and selection process from previous years. In order to make the Woodward/Newman Award accessible to all...

The Bloomington Playwrights Project (BPP) strives to be a leading artistic force in the production and encouragement of new plays. The BPP provides opportunities for development, education, and production for promising and established writers and theater artists in a professional environment. The Reva Shiner Comedy Award presents an unpublished full-length COMEDY with a cash prize of $1,000, a full production as part of the Bloomington Playwrights Project’s Mainstage season, along with travel reimbursement. The submission fee is waved for Dramatists Guild members.

The Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women was founded by Yellow Rose Productions, with permission of Beth Henley, to encourage and recognize the new works of female playwrights. The Henley Rose Playwright Competition for Women aims to give voice to the stories of this generation and to bring into the spotlight important works that have been crafted. See website for details.

Young Playwrights in Process (YPiP) is an annual playwriting competition for Indiana students in grades 6-12. The competition was created in 2005 through the Margot L. and Robert S. Eccles Trust, and sponsored in collaboration with IRT. YPiP encourages junior high and high school students across Indiana to create plays for live theatre that reflect and challenge their world.