Southern Playwrights Competition
The Southern Playwrights Competition is currently not running. Please stay tuned for updates!
The Competition
The Southern Playwrights Competition seeks to identify and encourage the best of Southern play writing.
Winners have been: Make Haste Slowly by D. K. Beyer (1989), Play It As It Lies by Granville Burgess (1990), The Dreamland Bus by Kenneth F. Graham (1991), Liberty by Sarah A. Lawrence (1993), The Exact Center of the Universe by Joan Vail Thorne (1994), A Higher Place in Heaven by Pamela Parker (1995), Mole Hill by Terry Sneed and Elaine Ferguson (1996), A Seacoast in Illyria by Ronald Amos (1997), Mustard Seed by Kenneth Heaton (1998), Tennessee's Rose by Daniel DuPlantis (1999), The Bayou Merchant by Daniel DuPlantis (2000), Blood of the Bear by Maureen McGranaghan (2001), Kentucky Wings by Robert Leland Taylor (2002), Wise Women by Ron Osborne (2003), Heroes by David Muschell (2004), Was by Barry Bradford (2005), Piano by David Hall (2006), Other People's Dreams by Evan Guilford-Blake (2007), Death by Darkness by Elizabeth Orndorff (2008), Conquistadors by Barry Bradford (2009), Southbridge by Reginald Edmund (2010), Dead Towns of Alabama by Barry Bradford (2011), A Tennessee Walk by Rob Winn Anderson (2012), The Vanishing Point by Nedra Pezold Roberts (2013), To Tread Among Serpents by Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos (2014), The Shackles of Liberty (2015) by Wim Coleman and Lillian Paula Carson by John Barrow (2016-2017), Right by Nedra Pezold Roberts (2018), Winston Drives Big Jim by Hubert Grissom (2019).
The Award
An annual award of $1,000 will be presented to the first-prize winner, as well as a consideration for production by the Jacksonville State University Department of Drama. Southern Playwrights Competition reserves the right to use the name of the play and the author's name in all publicity and promotions.
In the event of any subsequent production or publication of the winning manuscript (or versions thereof), and as one of the stipulations of the award, the author agrees to indicate in a footnote or in the playbill that the script was named winner of the Southern Playwrights Competition for 2020, and, if applicable, that the play was produced at Jacksonville State University.
The Rules
The Competition cannot receive faxed or electronically submitted plays.
Playwrights must be native to or a resident of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, or West Virginia.
Plays must deal with the Southern experience.
Entries must be original, full-length plays. No musicals or adaptations will be accepted. The playwright may submit only one play. All entries must be typed, securely bound, and clearly identified. Synopsis of script must be included. Legal clearance of all materials not in the public domain will be the responsibility of the playwright.
Submission is restricted to plays that have not had previous Equity productions. Plays which have had workshops, readings, or showcase productions are eligible.
The Southern Playwrights Competition reserves the right to accept or reject any play submitted. SPC reserves the right to declare no winner. Decisions of the judges are final.
Each script must be accompanied by an official entry. Entries must be received no later than January 15, 2020. Do not send entries until after September 15, 2019. Staff is unable to receive or acknowledge the entry.
In the event that, for any reason, the winning script cannot be produced, SPC shall only be held responsible for the playwright's award of $1,000.
Send Entry Form with play submission to:
Joy Maloney
Department of English
Jacksonville State University
700 Pelham Road North
Jacksonville, Alabama 36265-1602
The Competition cannot receive faxed or electronically submitted plays.
For questions, contact jmaloney@jsu.edu | 256-782-5412