Call for entries: 2012 24-Hour Playwriting Contest

Stock up on coffee and dust off your lucky mug. Pat the Dog Playwright Centre is thrilled to announce we are hosting our fourth annual 24-hour playwriting contest. This means 30 adrenaline-pumped writers from across Ontario will be hitting the keyboards from 4:00 PM on Friday, October 5, 2012 to 4:00 PM Saturday, October 6, 2012.

All contestants write off-site, so you can write at home, in a coffee shop, on a bus… the location is up to you. There’s no entry fee and no restriction on final script length. All you have to do is write an original play using three secret words — in 24 hours. How easy it that?

Not very. But the rewards could be great. Our winning playwrights are everywhere!

• 2011 Winner Allie Bell’s Neighbours premiered at the 2012 Toronto Fringe, (NOW Magazine,“Playwright Allie Bell makes an impressive debut”)
• 2010 Winner Matthew Heiti’s Receiver of Wreck received a public presentation at the Sudbury Theatre Centre. Heiti is a past winner of the RBC Tarragon Under 30 National Playwriting Contestand a participant in the 2012 PTC Writers’ Colony.
• 2009 Winner Evan Tsitsias’ Aftershock premiered at Toronto’s SummerWorks Festival in 2010 (4 NNNN’s and a Critics Pick, NOW Magazine). Tsitsias was a member of Tarragon Theatre’s 2010-11 Playwright’s Unit.

Rules & Regulations:

1. The contest runs from 4:00 PM on Friday, October 5, 2012 to 4:00 PM on Saturday, October 6, 2012.
2. The contest is open to anyone living in Ontario. Space is limited to the first 30 entrants, accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
3. Entrants can work from a page of prepared notes, but all plays are to be original works.
4. The script must include, in some form, the three secret words we select. These words will be emailed to the participants at 4:00 PM on Friday, October 5, 2012.
5. Participants must email their play to the designated email address no later than 4:00 PM on Saturday, October 6, 2012.
6. Scripts must be in electronic format (acceptable extensions include .doc, .docx or .pdf), written in 12 point Arial, Courier or Times Roman, double-spaced between speaking parts, and formatted for 8 1/2” X 11” paper.
7. The title page should contain the title of the play, your name, contact number and email. The play itself must NOT contain your name, but have a header with the play title and page numbers.
8. To register fill out our Entry Form and send it to scripts@patthedog.org.

Prizes & Notification:
Winners will be announced on our website on Monday, October 8, 2012 at 4:00 PM. Prizes will be awarded as follows:

• First place prize will be $500, a public staged reading of the winning script, and a Q&A with the winning playwright published on our website.
• Second place: a reading.
• Third place: a reading.