Playwriting Competition Rules

1. There is a broad theme selected each year for the competition that entries for that year must adhere to.  There is no restriction to style.

            1.2 2015 Theme: For our 2015 competition, we are looking for a comedy that features college-age characters as the majority of the cast.

2. The competition is open to any playwright, but only one play per playwright may be entered per biennium.

3. Entries must be original, full-length plays or musicals. They also may be co-authored, based upon factual material or an adaptation. The applicant must be the owner and controller of the copyright.  The legal clearance of materials not in the public domain is the full responsibility of the playwright. 

4.One-act plays and works previously entered in playwriting competitions sponsored by Northern Michigan University are ineligible.

5. Submission is restricted to plays that have not been previously produced or published.

6. No revisions will be accepted once a script has been submitted.

7. No written or oral critique will be given on plays submitted.

8. Entries may be submitted starting February 15, 2013 and must be received no later than September 1, 2013 to be considered for the current theme. The winner will be announced in December. A staged reading/workshop will be scheduled for March or April 2014. The full production will be scheduled in the 2014-15 season, and may happen in any of our performance spaces.

9. Northern Michigan University reserves the right to accept or reject any play entered in the contest.

10. Scripts should be submitted electronically either in PDF or Microsoft Word format. They can be submitted through the website or via email to newplays@nmu.edu. If you have difficulty submitting through our online form, or would like to send your script as a PDF, please email your script to avalenti@nmu.edu. However, if your ONLY recourse is a paper script, then the script must be loose leaf bound in a 3-ring binder or with a binder clip. Scripts bound with staples are not acceptable. They must be either typewritten or word processed. Entries not meeting these criteria will be disqualified.

11. By submitting a paper copy of the script the playwright agrees to allow their work to be scanned into a PDF.

12. Paper scripts will not be returned. It is suggested that playwrights retain copies of their scripts.

Click Submission on the side navigation to submit your script.