The Relentless Award, established in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman

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The Relentless Award, established in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman and his pursuit of truth in the theater, is the largest annual cash prize in American theater awarded to a playwright in recognition of a new play.

What we are looking for:

• Plays that are challenging.
• Plays that exhibit fearlessness.
• Plays that are not mainstream.
• Plays that exude passion.
• Plays that are relentlessly truthful

The American Playwriting Foundation encourages submissions by first time playwrights, women and playwrights of color.

Prize:

• The author of the Relentless Award-winning play will receive $45,000.
• The winning playwright will have the option to have the winning play published by the Dramatists Play Service.
• The winning playwright will have a week-long residency at SPACE on Ryder Farm, an artist residency program housed on a working organic farm in Brewster, New York. The author can elect to have a director, a dramaturg and actors join him or her while in residence on the farm.
• The selected play will have a national roll-out through the Ed Vassallo Relentless Reading Series, established to help bring to life and develop the winning play by presenting a series of staged readings at some of the top theaters across the United States.
• When the winning play is selected, three runners-up will also be named.

Deadlines:

Submissions will be accepted up until midnight of July 10, 2015. The winner and three finalists will be announced on October 2, 2015.

Eligibility/Criteria for Submission:

• Any unproduced play written by a United States citizen is eligible for The Relentless Award.
• Each play must be submitted with a letter from a theater professional recommending the play. “Theater Professional” is defined as anyone who has worked in theater in any artistic capacity for a minimum of four years.
• Plays with a producer, producing organization or theater attached are not eligible.
• As much as we love them, one-act plays, musicals and plays for children are not eligible.
• The author must be at least 21 years old.

How to submit your play:

• Use the form to submit your play and accompanying letter of recommendation to The American Playwriting Foundation.
• Please do not have your name or other identifying info (email/phone number) on any of your manuscript pages. This will preserve the author's anonymity for the judges.
• We prefer to receive your files as pdfs (rather than Word documents).
• You will receive a confirmation email after we receive your files.