The University of New Hampshire’s Department of Theatre and Dance is pleased to announce the playwriting contest for new children’s plays and musicals. The University is offering 1) a cash prize, up to $500, to a winning playwright(s), and 2) either a staged, fully staged, or touring production as determined by the needs of UNH Theatre and Dance Department.
This award was created to honor the late Anna Zornio, an alumna of the University of New Hampshire, for her dedication to and inspiration of children’s theater playwriting.
Competition Guidelines
Contest registrations are due by March 1, 2017. The award will be administered by the Director of the UNH Theatre Education Program. The Department of Theatre and Dance will reserve the right to withhold the award if, in its opinion, no submissions merit the award. The award will be announced November, 2017. All candidates will be notified of the contest results.
The University of New Hampshire will not be able to offer feedback for submitted scripts.
Hard copy scripts, sheet music and CD’s will not be able to be mailed back.
The winning Playwright will be required to sign a letter of agreement giving permission for the University of New Hampshire to perform the play with no additional royalties or fees. The Playwright also agrees that any published version of the play will include the following statement: “Winner of The Anna Zornio Children's Theatre Playwriting Award through the Theatre and Dance Department at the University of New Hampshire.”
Rules for Entry
1. The contest is open to all playwrights residing in the United States and Canada.
2. All ages are invited to participate.
3. The contest is for new plays, with a maximum length of 60 minutes and suitable for young audiences (adults will perform for children.)
4. Plays submitted must not have been fully produced at the time of submission, though it may have been workshopped or done as a staged reading for the purpose of revision; previously produced winner of an award or prize in another playwriting contest; and must not be under contract for publication before UNH’s announcement of the award winner; DOES NOT EXCEED A SIXTY-MINUTE RUN TIME. A statement stipulating all of the above items MUST be included on the registration form.
5. Playwrights may submit more than one play, but not more than three.
6. Only digital copies of the scripts will be accepted (no hard copies).
7. Each submission should include:
cast list
description of characters
a statement of design/technical considerations (the producers particularly need to know if you intend a multi-location set or unit set design motif)
8. For musical submissions, a CD of the music with lyrics sung and accompanying sheet music should be sent to:
Michael Wood
Theatre & Dance Department
University of New Hampshire
30 Academic Way
Durham, NH 03824
9. The author’s name should not appear on any other page than the registration form. You may put the title on each page, but competition does blind evaluations. Readers should not be able to identify the author.
10. Submissions must be received no later than March 1, 2017.
11. Entries that do not meet the above requirements will not be considered.