The Woodward/Newman Award 2024

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Deadline: September 1, 2023

The Woodward/Newman Award is an exclusive honor offered by Constellation Stage & Screen, started through the support of Joanne Woodward, Newman’s Own Foundation, and the Newman family, celebrating Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward’s tremendous history of work on stage and screen. It presents the best unpublished play of the year with a cash prize of $3,000 and a full production as part of Constellation’s Mainstage season.

Please note that there are significant changes to our submission and selection process from previous years. In order to make the Woodward/Newman Award accessible to all, we have eliminated submission fees as well as the contest format. 

The Woodward/Newman Award will continue to be awarded to an unpublished new play once per year and come with a $3,000 cash prize and a full production. 

Submissions will be accepted and reviewed by our literary team on an ongoing basis, and will be considered for the award as well as for all 8 production slots in our season. So a play that is not selected for the Woodward/Newman slot in our season, may still be considered and selected for production. This will allow us to now accept open submissions for all types of plays (including TYA shows). Plays submitted prior to September 1 will be considered for the 2023-24 season, while plays submitted beyond that date will be considered for the 2024-25 Season. All submissions will be kept on file for 2 years after submission.

If you have questions regarding submissions to the Constellation Stage & Screen, please contact the Literary Manager at literary@seeconstellation.org.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS

We are currently accepting submissions for the 2024-25 Woodward/Newman Award. The award recipient and finalists will be announced by May 15, 2024. The winner will be awarded $3,000 and a full production.

• “Full-length” plays should have a complete running time of between 1 hour 15 minutes (75 minutes) to 2 hours 15 minutes (135 minutes). TYA shows should have a complete running time of over 40 minutes.
• Plays submitted must be unpublished at the time of submission (independently published is acceptable).
• Each play should be individually submitted at the following link: CONSTELLATION STAGE & SCREEN PLAY SUBMISSION.
• You will be asked to submit your play as an attachment and all other information (bio, history, synopsis, character breakdown) will be entered into a form. Musical submissions may upload demos as an attachment or include a link to a shared folder.
• Limit of 2 play submissions per year.
• $3,000 cash prize is in lieu of royalties for the full production. Housing & transportation will also be provided.
• If you have any questions, please email literary@seeconstellation.org.