24-Hour-Mug

For 2013 winners, please click here:

It’s baaaack. Pat the Dog Playwright Centre is thrilled to announce that we are hosting our fifth annual 24-Hour Playwriting Contest.

Grind those coffee beans, bust out that snuggie, stock up on chocolate, and get ready to hit the keys from 4:00PM on Friday, October 4, 2013, to 4:00PM Saturday, October 5, 2013. All you need is a computer and some imagination. You can hit the keys at home, in a coffee shop, on a bus… the location is up to you. There’s no entry fee and no restrictions on final script length. All you have to do is write an original script using three secret words– in 24 hours. How easy is that?

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

  • Jessica Anderson’s The Gods and Calvin Brewer not only placed third in our contest, but went on to win the prestigious 2011/2012 Tarragon RBC Emerging Playwright’s Competition; it’ll receive a workshop at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre this coming year. She’s even off to New York City, as her play My Purple Wig gets a full-run with Heiress Productions. Jessica is also part of the Playwrights’ Unit at Thousand Islands Playhouse, has been the recipient of the Special Merit Award in Theatre BC’s National Playwriting Contest (2010), and was short-listed for RBC Tarragon’s Under 30 National Playwriting Competition.
  • 2012 Winner Kyle Capstick had a mini-residency and staged reading with us on his winning play I’m Not Anybody, soon followed by receiving a Theatre Creators’ Reserve grant to continue on further projects.
  • 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 Contest and a participant in the 2012 PTC Writers’ Colony and the 2012 Playwrights Retreat at the Stratford Festival. His play Mucking in the Drift is also slated as part of Sudbury Theatre Centre’s upcoming season.
  • 2009 Winner Evan Tsitsias’ Aftershock premiered at Toronto’s SummerWorks Festival in 2010 (4 NNNN’s and a Critics Pick, NOW Magazine), and was recently nominated for the 2012 Tom Hendry Award for best new comedy. Tsitsias was a member of Tarragon Theatre’s 2010-11 Playwright’s Unit.

Rules and Regulations:

  1. The contest runs from 4:00 PM on Friday, October 4, 2013 to 4:00 PM on Saturday, October 5, 2013.
  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 4, 2013.
  5. Participants must email their play to the designated email address no later than 4:00 PM on Saturday, October 5, 2013.
  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 24-Hour Entry Form 2013 and send it to scripts@patthedog.org.

Prizes & Notification:

Winners will be announced on our website and Twitter/Facebook pages (@PatTheDogPDC) on Monday, October 7, 2013. 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.