Play time – Contests for the Theater and Screen Writer
by Grace Tierney
‘I find the contest, you write the entry.’
Ever sat in the back row of the movie theater and thought, I could write that! Well if your writing skills do extend in that direction you will soon find that pitching to Hollywood, or even your local playhouse isn’t as easy as it looked in ‘The Player’. Getting Van Diesel or Cate Blanchett to proclaim your words is a tricky business. Our own Christina Hamlett is a great source of wisdom on writing for the thespians, so I won’t try to duplicate her work, despite my own massive stage experiences (second shepherd on the left in the Nativity play).
However winning or being placed in a playwriting contest can help to open doors for a new writer of the spoken word. Most contests won’t promise production of your work (with the wonderful exception of small theater groups which run contests to find new plays to produce), but most will give you exposure of some variety. Sadly such contests come with the highest entry fees I’ve ever found (about 45 US dollars is typical) so be prepared to research the contests carefully and decide which one best suits your work or has a judge you especially want to impress.
I’ve listed 22 play and screenplay contests below – check ‘em out, you just might be tempted to give your new twist on ‘death-defying ape-man treasure-hunting detective in love’ a chance to make it to our screens and light up our matinee afternoons. Just remember to mention Writer Online during your Oscar acceptance speech, alright?
In keeping with this week’s theme, we’ve heard about a contest/challenge designed to encourage you to submit reams of writing this year. It’s the 100 Rejections Challenge, yep you read it right the first time, “rejections.” The point is that if you get 100 rejections, you’re bound to get a few acceptances too and it will certainly get you to submit your work. The challenge begins on March 7, get details at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/100rejections/join, and there’s plenty of tips and support available there too. Go on, give it a try!
Don’t forget that April is National Poetry Month in the U.S.A and Canada (www.poets.ca/linktext/npm.htm) so get out there and read your work, or buy a poetry book, or just laugh over your teenage angst in your long-lost-journal. If you’re in the U.K. then try and hang on until National Poetry Week in October (www.poetrysociety.org.uk/npd/npdindex.htm) or use the Internet to help out your stateside fellow poets.
Don’t forget to scroll down to the more than 20 contests I’ve got for you in my regular round-up for the month of April.
Happy Writing!
All contests are annual unless otherwise noted and all are open to international writers
RedInk Works
www.redinkworks.com/script_competiton.htm
screenplay
March 15
Theatre Southwest's Festival of Originals
www.theatresouthwest.org
twenty-minute plays
April 1
Monterey Screenplay Competition
www.filmmonterey.org/screenwriting.html
Screenplay
March 31
Stephen Susco Screenwriting Mentorship Competition
www.writersroom.net
screenplay
April 30
The Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting
www.oscars.org/nicholl
screenplay
May 1
Dreamcatcher Short Film contest
www.cloudcreek.org
screenplay
May15
British Short Screenplay Competition
www.kaosfilms.co.uk/2004/home.html
screenplay
May 27
The Writers Network Screenplay Competition
www.fadeinonline.com
screenplay
May 14
Hollywoodsymposium
www.hollywoodsymposium.com
screenplay
June 1
Screenwriter Showcase Screenwriting Contest
www.screenwritershowcase.com
screenplay
July 30
American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest
www.zoetrope.com/contests
screenplay
August 1
Tallahassee Writers Stagelight Playwriting Contest
www.twaonline.org/contests.htm
play
October 1
The Writers Place Screenplay Writing Contest
www.thewritersplace.org/screenplay_contest.shtml
screenplay
October 31
Rutherglen Repertory Theatre One-Act Play Writing Competition
www.rutherglenrep.org.uk
One-act play
October 31
Scriptapalooza Television Writing Competition
www.scriptapaloozatv.com/
screenplay for TV
November 15
Mildred and Albert Panowski Playwriting Award
www.nmu.edu/theatre/award2.html
play
November 19
Corca Dorca Playwright Award
www.corcadorca.com
new original play / piece of theatre never previously published or performed
January 31 (2006)
American Accolades Screenwriting Competition
http://americanaccolades.com/contest_rules.htm
screenplay in one of five genres; drama, thriller/horror, comedy, sci-fi/action/adventure, and other
February 5
American Gem Short Script Contest
www.filmmakers.com/contests/short/index.htm
Screenplay
February 10
Listowel Writers Week contests
www.writersweek.ie
various contests including short fiction, humorous essay, poetry, poetry collection, and Eamon Keane award for a full length play
March 1
Scr(i)pt Magazine Open Door Contest
www.scriptmag.com
screenplay
March 1
Scriptapalooza
www.scriptapalooza.com
screenplay
March 7
Coming Soon to the Writing Contest Department
Forthcoming features will focus on haiku, quirky contests, non-fiction writing, no-fee contests, humor writing, short story contests, travel writing, writing for children, speculative fiction, contests with unusual prizes, mystery writing contests, romantic writing contests.
I’m always looking for new contest types to research so if you’re looking for a particular type of contest for your writing, just drop me a line. I’d also love to hear from you if you win a contest you read about here or if you have a contest to suggest for inclusion. Please note that I will only include contests that are open to writers anywhere in the world as our readers are geographically dispersed.
Contest Deadlines from April 1 to 30
Every Sunday
Weekly Haiku Contest
Haiku
http://books.guardian.co.uk/games/haiku/0,5917,124810,00.html
April 1
Fugue's Prose & Poetry Contest
poetry, essay
www.uidaho.edu/fugue/contest.htm
April 1
Bomb Magazine Fiction Prize
Short fiction
www.bombsite.com/prize.html
April 1
Wergle Flomp Poetry Contest
Poetry – humor
www.winningwriters.com/contestflomp.htm?tpm0309
April 10
Iota Poetry Competition
poetry, any subject
www.iotapoetry.co.uk
April 15
Parsec Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story Contest
short fiction
http://trfn.clpgh.org/parsec/conflu/contest.html
April 15
GCWA's "Let's Write" Literary Contest
Fiction, poetry and non-fiction categories
http://gcwriters.org/contest.html
April 15
Dylan Days Creative Writing Contest
poetry and fiction
www.hibbing.org/dylan1/2005entries.doc
April 15
Event Creative Non-Fiction Contest
creative non-fiction
http://event.douglas.bc.ca/contest.html
April 15
Bulwer-lytton Fiction Contest
Deliberately bad fiction
www.bulwer-lytton.com
April 15
Ultra-Short Competition
poetry and flash fiction
www.umm.maine.edu/binnacle/short.asp
April 15
Balticon 38 Poetry Contest
Poetry
www.balticon.org/program.html
April 18
The Smiling Politely Very Short Story Competition
Flash fiction
www.smilingpolitely.com.au
April 20
Blog Fest
Tell them what you want to write and what it would mean to you to have the opportunity to write it. If you win they will give you cash to do just that so long as you blog your progress.
www.writingstuff.com/blogfest.html
April 29
The Radmin Company & Filmmakers Magazine
screenplay
www.filmmakers.com/contests/2005/index.htm
April 30
Perigee Fiction Contest
short fiction
www.perigee-art.com/
April 30
Stephen Susco Screenwriting Mentorship Competition
Screenplay
www.filmmakers.com/contests/2005/index.htm
April 30
Libbon Short Story Contest
short fiction
www.libbon.co.uk/pages/hom.html
April 30
Poetry West and The Muse Chapbook Competition
poetry chapbook
www.poetrywest.org/chapbook05.htm
April 30
The Nimrod/Hardman Awards, The Katherine Anne Porter Prize, and the Pablo Neruda Prize
poetry/fiction
www.utulsa.edu/nimrod
April 30
Momaya Short Story Competition
short fiction
www.momayapress.com/contest.htm
April 30
Poetry for Today's Christian Poetry Contest
Poetry
www.poetryoftoday.com/poetrycontest.html