50th Anniversary of the Bela Kiralyfalvi National Student Playwriting Competition
Accepting Submissions for 2025
Guidelines
- All submissions are completed using the submission form link.
- The contest will be open to all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at any college or university in the United States.
- Submissions must be:
- Original
- Unpublished
- Unproduced
- Full-length and one-act plays may be submitted
- Full-length plays in one or more acts should be a minimum of 90 minutes playing time
- Two short plays on related themes by the same author will be judged as one entry. The total playing time should be a minimum of 90 minutes
- One-act plays should be a minimum of 30 minutes playing time to a maximum of 60 minutes playing time
- Musicals should be submitted to the Music Theatre Incubator program
- Scripts should contain no more than 4 - 6 characters and the setting must be suitable for an 88-seat black box theatre
- Eligible playwrights may submit up to two entries per contest year
- Scripts must be typed and arranged in professional play script format
- Two title pages must be included
- One should display the author’s name, address, telephone number and email address if applicable
- The other should only display the name of the script; do not include any personal identifying information
- The deadline for submission is December 14th. The winner will be notified on February 14th.
- No entry may be withdrawn after January 15th
Selection Process
The selection of the winning play will be conducted by a panel of three or more approved adjudicators from the school faculty, students, or alumni. Adjudicators will be looking for scripts that are suitable for an 88-seat black box theatre. This is defined as scripts with settings that are capable of being produced with a limited budget, by student designers, and specifically written to be performed onstage, i.e. scripts with workable costume/scenic changes and with limited production elements. (Scripts that are written in a cinematic style--overly complex costume and setting changes--will be rejected).
Development Process
The selected script will go through a development process with the assigned director, which will involve re-writing and polishing the script. Staged readings will also be used to assist with this process.