2026 Script Tease of Short Plays Competition
The 2026 Competition begins January 1, 2026.
This competition is open to San Diego playwrights and screenwriters only.
PLEASE NOTE:
We will be updating the way we accept competition entries. Please check back with us.
Deadline: July 1, 2026
Six cash prizes:
- First Place: $200
- Second Place: $150
- Third Place: $100
- $50 each to three plays worthy of Honorable Mention from the Dea Hurston Honorable Mention Fund.
Dea Hurston was a two-time winner in the Scripteasers annual short play contest. As a strong supporter of the annual contest, her anonymous donations funded the Honorable Mention winners’ prizes. In her memory, her family and friends are continuing her efforts.
Sponsored by her loving husband Osborn Hurston, and her dear friends, Susan Gembrowski Baker, KM McNeel, Jean Seager and Roy Sekigahama.
DETAILS:
We only accept short, 10-minute, or one-act plays, with a maximum length of 30 pages. Please don’t try to game the page length by shrinking your margins or your font.
(No musicals, children’s theater, literary adaptations or AI generated plays will be accepted.)
- Submissions cannot be excerpts from full length plays.
- There is no entry fee, and each author may submit up to three short plays.
- Each play will receive feedback from at least one judge.
- The prize winners are guaranteed a reading by The Scripteasers. Those readings may be in person or online – to be determined by Scripteasers. Each reading will include a moderated discussion with audience feedback following the reading.
- Scripts not selected for cash awards but deemed noteworthy by the judges may be selected for a reading.
- Entries are judged anonymously.
- DEADLINE: July 1, 2026.
PLEASE NOTE:
At the time your script is received, Scripteasers will confirm receipt of your submission and treat your work with respect.
We will notify you of the results of the competition in September 2026.
And we will work with all prize-winning playwrights to arrange convenient reading dates and a moderated discussion with audience feedback.
OTHER IMPORTANT DETAILS:
- Submissions are limited to the first 100 entries received.
- The following plays are ineligible for submission: plays that have been previously produced or published, or have been previously submitted to, or read at, The Scripteasers. If a play is submitted that then falls into any of the categories above before the end of the contest, it must be withdrawn by the playwright.
- There will only be one cash prize per author.
- All scripts must follow standard dramatic formatting.*
- Scripteasers reserves the right not to award a prize if in its opinion no submission is worthy.
Questions? Please contact us at:
We look forward to receiving your submission!
*A sample of standard dramatic formatting can be found here: