Bottle Tree Productions One Act Play Competition for Writers
For advice for playwrights, please go to Playwright's Page
Welcome to our annual play writing competition. Our competition is in its third year with a top prize of $1,000.00. The first year, Evan Guilford-Blake won with his provocative American Blues which could easily have been a play Tennessee Williams could have written himself before the decline. Poetic and beautiful with a sprinkling of melancholia. From the soundscape to the landscape, a triumph of the imagination.
Amanda Andrei won last year with her epic tale of Philippine Tragedy; Every Night I Die. Set in a rural lnndscape, the events coalesce into a clash of Ancient Mythology and transported Christianity exposing the fatal flaws of mere mortals. Evocative writing that grips the readers imagination.
A note to new writers. Please make sure that you don't put extraordinary special effects in to your scripts without any instruction detailing how to achieve this miracle. Otherwise brilliant scripts have been rejected because of impossible to achieve effects.
Below we have contest details and some advice for novice writers about developing stage craft
>Bottle Tree One Act Play Competition Details
The contest is open January 1st, 2012. It closes November 30th 2012.
For electronic submissions, please email to: contest(at)bottletreeinc(dot)com
For Overland Delivery, Scripts need to be bound and should be mailed to:
Bottle Tree Productions445 Southwood Drive, Kingston, ON, Canada
K7M-5P8
A manuscript-sized SASE should be attached if the script needs to be returned
Bottle Tree One Act Play Competition for Writers Entry Fee
There is a twenty-five dollar entry fee.
For email submissions use our PAYPAL account
- A twenty-five dollar cheque should be enclosed with hard copy submissions and made payable to Bottle Tree Productions.
- No entry will be considered until the entry fee has been paid.
- You may enter as many scripts as you like but there is a twenty-five dollar fee for each entry.
- Previously produced and/or work-shopped scripts will be accepted as long as they weren't produced or work-shopped by an equity company.
- Scripts should be no longer than 70 minutes.
- The format is immaterial, as long as it is typed and readable.
- Plays must be written in English.
- Prize money is in Canadian dollars. We are happy to remit your prize to your Paypal account, or to pay by cheque in Canadian dollars.
Critique
If you would like critical input about your play, please submit a $50 cheque made payable to Bottle Tree Productions, along with a manuscript-sized SASE. Or deposit $50 into our PAYPAL account
Don't Forget
Leave the playwright's name and other contact information off the script. This info should be included on a separate title page.
Please number your script pages.
Judging the Competition
Charles Robertson is the judge
New Online Writing Course
Take the Twenty Steps to Successful Writing.
Winners of the 2009 Script Contest
First place - "American Blues" by Evan Guilford-Blake.
Second Place - "Demons of the Mind" by Talia Pura.
Third Place - "Sister Aimee" by Richard Rossi.
Winners of the 2010 Script Contest
First Place- "Every Night I Die" by Amanda Andrei
Second Place- "The Rank and The Blood Rush" by Josh Hartwell
Third Place- "Tio's Blues" by Evan Guilford-Blake
Third Place- "Gift of an Orange" by Charlene A. Donaghy
Articles
One Act Plays have a basic set of rules and a basic structure that have to be followed that have nothing to do with the writing. Great writing can be torpedoed in a one act play by a flaw in play construction. While a set might be held together by tacs and twine, a script needs solid construction. In this article we will look at scene changes. to read more
Off Stage characters that never come on stage are dangerous to the health of your play. to read more
