Call for Entries | The Yale Drama Series Award for Emerging Playwrights

Deadline: 15 August 2018 (opens 1 June 2018)

The Yale Drama Series is seeking submissions for its 2019 playwriting competition. The winning play will be selected by the series’ current judge, Ayad Akhtar. Past judges have included Edward Albee, Sir David Hare, John Guare, Marsha Norman and Nicholas Wright. Past winners have gone on to have full productions in New York, Los Angeles and London.

The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of his/her manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater.

There is no entry fee. Please follow these guidelines in preparing your manuscript:

This contest is restricted to plays written in the English language. Worldwide submissions are accepted.

Submissions must be original, unpublished full-length plays written in English. Translations, musicals, and children’s plays are not accepted. The Yale Drama Series is intended to support emerging playwrights. Playwrights may win the competition only once.

Playwrights may submit only one manuscript per year.

Plays that have been professionally produced or published are not eligible. Plays that have had a workshop, reading, or non-professional production or that have been published as an actor’s edition will be considered.

Plays may not be under option, commissioned, or scheduled for professional production or publication at the time of submission.

Plays must be typed/word-processed, page-numbered, and in the standard professional play format.

The Yale Drama Series Competition strongly urges electronic submission. By electronically submitting your script, you will receive immediate confirmation of your successful submission and the ability to check the status of your entry.

If you are submitting your play electronically, please omit your name and contact information from your manuscript. The manuscript must begin with a title page that shows the play’s title, a 2-3 sentence keynote description of the play, a list of characters, and a list of acts and scenes. Please enter the title of your play, your name and contact information (including address, phone number, and email address), and a brief biography where indicated in the electronic submission form.

If you would like to submit an electronic copy of your manuscript please go to: https://yup.submittable.com/submit.

For more information regarding the Yale Drama Series please write to Yale Drama Series, P.O. Box 209040, New Haven, CT, 06520-9040, U.S.A.; or email yaledramaseries@yale.edu.