The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival National Playwriting Program (NPP) offers three (3) programs for student-written work: ten-minute plays, one act plays, and full-length plays. See below for specific guidelines and awards for each program, but please make note of these overall guidelines for ALL manuscripts: All plays must be blind submissions, which means that the playwright’s name and any identifying information (including school information) must be removed from the manuscript in its entirety. This includes the title page, and all headers and footers throughout the text...

This award is offered to the outstanding student-written play that play that explores issues of gender, diversity, and sexual orientation.

For the outstanding student-written, full-length play premiering at a college or university participating in KCACTF program.

Supported by the Kennedy Center Education Department, The Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, initiated in 1977, is part of the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program. The Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award is presented in the memory of the distinguished dramatist for the outstanding KCACTF student-written plays on the subject of the African-American experience. Hansberry was the first African-American playwright, and the youngest of any color, to win the New York Drama Critics Award for her drama, A Raisin in the Sun, which opened on Broadway in 1959. Lorraine Hansberry died in 1965 of...

The John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play recognizes one or more outstanding scripts each year for presentation at the national festival at the Kennedy Center.

For the outstanding student-written comedy or play with a significant comic element from college/university participating in KC/ACTF program.

The award will be presented to the outstanding student-written play written by a student of Latinx heritage. The national award recipient will receive $1,000. The second place award is a cash prize of $500.

Supported by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, The David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award is presented in an effort to promote the writing and production of new plays while honoring and perpetuating the memory of David Mark Cohen, Professor of Playwriting, the University of Texas-Austin. Developed by the Playwriting Program of ATHE and the National Playwriting Program of KCACTF, the award is intended to provide incentive to college and university theatre production departments to foster the growth and development of playwrights through the public presentations of...

Supported by the University of Kansas Endowment Association, this award is given to the outstanding full-length or one-act play on any subject written by a student of Asian heritage, in honor of Paul Stephen Lim's outstanding career as teacher, playwright and passionate advocate for new voices in the American Theatre.

The Kennedy Center is the nation's busiest performing arts center, hosting approximately 2,000 events each year for audiences numbering more than 2 million. Since 1971, we have been bringing the world to Washington with magnificent performances of music, dance, theater, and more. The Kennedy Center, located on the banks of the Potomac River near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., opened to the public in September 1971. But its roots date back to 1958, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed bipartisan legislation creating a National Cultural Center. To honor Eisenhower's vision...

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States.

Rainbow Theatre Project is committed to being a premier theatre for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer (LGBTQ) community in the Nation’s Capital by presenting plays and musicals that reflect the unique experiences, interests and history of the LGBTQ community.