The ATC Playwriting Competition is held on a bi-annual basis.
We are no longer accepting submissions to the 2025-26 competition. Entries are currently being evaluated, and the winning entry will be announced in January of 2026. If you have entered the contest, please do not contact the ATC or any board members, so the anonymity of your authorship can be maintained throughout the blind judging process. If you wish to enquire about your submission or withdraw it from consideration, please use the contest submission email address: [email protected]
Our next contest will be held during the 2027-28 season. Please do not send any scripts to the ATC at this time. The deadline for the next submission period will be announced later in 2026.
Meanwhile, feel free to browse this page for everything you need to know about the contest, eligibility, and script guidelines. We look forward to reading your script in 2027!
Be sure to carefully read and comply with the following guidelines before sending your script.
Please note that to ensure blind reading by the judges, entries submitted by any means other than the submissions email address indicated below will be disregarded.
Please note that to ensure blind reading by the judges, entries submitted by any means other than the submissions email address indicated below will be disregarded.
The ATC playwriting competition offers you the opportunity to put your story into words and your characters onto the stage! The deadline for entering the next competition will be announced in 2027. The winning entry will be announced in early 2028, and the ATC will stage the winning play in 2028 or 2029.
The ground rules of the competition
The script
The author
How do you submit your entry?
Entries should be typewritten in standard play format and submitted as a PDF document by attachment in an email with the subject line "playwriting competition" by 11:59 CET on the deadline date (TBA). Email your contest entry to [email protected].
IMPORTANT: So that plays may be judged fairly and anonymously, your name, address, or any identifying information must NOT appear anywhere on the play script (ATTENTION: be sure the file path used to save your script doesn't contain any identifying information other than the title!). So that scripts can be correctly matched to their authors by the contest administrator (who is not a member of the selection committee), please include in your emailed submission an additional, separate document (a completely separate file, please -- not a page of your script!) in PDF format that contains the following information:
The details on your information page (except title) will not be shared with the judges. You will be contacted by email to confirm receipt of your submission. All entrants will be notified about the results a few weeks after the deadline, and the winning entry will be announced in the ATC newsletter shortly thereafter. To sign up to the newsletter, please fill in the form in the "newsletter" section of this website.
All authors who submit to the contest retain full proprietary rights and copyright of their script, even if the script is selected as a winner. The ATC reserves the right to offer editing suggestions and to workshop the winning script(s) in collaboration with the author(s) as a condition of producing the play, with all changes subject to author collaboration and approval.
The decision of the judges is final, and no unsolicited discussion or correspondence will be entered into.
We look forward to reading your play!
The ground rules of the competition
The script
- must be written in English, be original, and not be previously published or performed;
- may deal with any topic and be set in any location, any time period, any country; however, plays set in America or with characters from America will score higher;
- should have a run time no shorter than 25 minutes and no longer than 45 minutes; and
- may be a comedy, a drama, a play with original music, or even a musical.
The author
- may be of any nationality;
- must currently reside in Belgium, or have lived in Belgium within the past three years (as of the closing date of the competition); and
- may enter a maximum of ONE script.
How do you submit your entry?
Entries should be typewritten in standard play format and submitted as a PDF document by attachment in an email with the subject line "playwriting competition" by 11:59 CET on the deadline date (TBA). Email your contest entry to [email protected].
IMPORTANT: So that plays may be judged fairly and anonymously, your name, address, or any identifying information must NOT appear anywhere on the play script (ATTENTION: be sure the file path used to save your script doesn't contain any identifying information other than the title!). So that scripts can be correctly matched to their authors by the contest administrator (who is not a member of the selection committee), please include in your emailed submission an additional, separate document (a completely separate file, please -- not a page of your script!) in PDF format that contains the following information:
- the title of your play
- your name
- your email address
- your place of residence in Belgium (or previous one, plus relevant dates, if you left Belgium in the past three years)
- your phone number
The details on your information page (except title) will not be shared with the judges. You will be contacted by email to confirm receipt of your submission. All entrants will be notified about the results a few weeks after the deadline, and the winning entry will be announced in the ATC newsletter shortly thereafter. To sign up to the newsletter, please fill in the form in the "newsletter" section of this website.
All authors who submit to the contest retain full proprietary rights and copyright of their script, even if the script is selected as a winner. The ATC reserves the right to offer editing suggestions and to workshop the winning script(s) in collaboration with the author(s) as a condition of producing the play, with all changes subject to author collaboration and approval.
The decision of the judges is final, and no unsolicited discussion or correspondence will be entered into.
We look forward to reading your play!