The National Student Playwriting Award

The National Student Playwriting Award, initiated in 1974, is part of the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program. This awards program is a series of awards given to student writers whose plays are produced as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). The purpose of the program is to encourage college students to write for the stage by providing the opportunity for them to collaborate with actors, directors, and others through all stages of production, including rehearsals and performances. Please refer to the Rules and Procedures. The playwright and/or institution chosen for the National Student Playwriting Award will receive the following:

• Production of the play at the Kennedy Center as part of the KCACTF national festival, with all expenses paid for the production and the playwright



• William Morris Agency Award
  The William Morris Agency Award, instrumental in establishing the National Student Playwriting Award and its first sponsor, will present the winning playwright with a cash award of $2,500.



• Dramatists Guild Award
  The Dramatists Guild Award provides the playwright with Active membership in the Guild. It will also honor the author with the awarding of a certificate presented at its offices in New York City. In the past, the award recipient has been cited at a guild reception to honor all the playwrights of the previous year.



• Samuel French Award Samuel French, Inc. will offer the playwright a contract for publication of the play, and will send the playwright royalties received for productions of the play worldwide. Additionally, the playwright will be invited to visit the offices of Samuel French for a tour of the premises, a pre-publication session with the production department, and a luncheon with the firm’s editors.



• Sundance Theater Laboratory Fellowship
  The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival will provide the winner with an all-expenses paid fellowship to the Sundance Theater Lab. The Sundance Theater Laboratory will arrange for the playwright to meet ina mentoring situation with the Sundance resource directors and dramaturgs and may provide a reading of the playwright's play with actors in attendance at the Lab.



• The Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Award
  ATHE will present an award of $100 to each theater department producing an original student-written , full-length play at each of the eight KCACTF Regional Festivals. Additionally, ATHE will present a cash award of up to $1000 to the theater department of the school producing the national winning script in a public ceremony during the KCACTF National Festival.