Playwriting Competition
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Inkslinger Playwriting Contest
Submissions for the 2026 Inkslinger Playwriting Contest are now open.
The winner will also receive a free year-long subscription to www.playsubmissionshelper.com, the most comprehensive and up-to-date online directory of play submission opportunities available anywhere.
Rules and Submission Guidelines
- All submissions must be original and unpublished.
- Plays should be intended for a college-aged cast and audience.
- Only full-length plays will be considered.
- No musicals at this time will be considered.
- Playwrights may submit as many plays as they wish. There is a $10 submission fee per play. Fees can be submitted by using the “Fee” link below or mailing a check made out to SLU to the address below.
- Scripts must be arranged in professional play script format.
- Submission deadline is Friday, February 20th, 2026
- Please fill-out the Google Form below to enter your submission. Please attach a blind
copy of your script to the Google Form.
Submission Payments
Make checks payable to Southeastern Louisiana University or SLU.
Mail checks to:
Inkslinger Playwriting Contest
Attn: Chad Winters
Box 10765
Hammond, LA 70402
About the Contest
Southeastern Louisiana University’s Inkslinger Playwriting Contest, now entering its 13th year, is dedicated to discovering and championing new theatrical voices. Through a rigorous three-round adjudication process that carefully evaluates over 200 submissions, the contest identifies exceptional new plays and offers the winning playwright lodging, travel support, and a full-scale Mainstage production at Southeastern Theatre. The contest has cultivated a legacy of launching successful plays into the wider theatrical landscape, with past winners achieving subsequent productions at regional theatre nationwide and publication. Beyond recognizing outstanding playwriting, the Inkslinger Playwriting Contest serves as a vital educational experience for Southeastern theatre students and audiences, creating meaningful opportunities for direct engagement with living playwrights and fostering an appreciation for the development of contemporary American theatre. This contest represents Southeastern Theatre’s ongoing commitment to supporting emerging voices in playwriting while enriching the theatrical education of students through exposure to new works and the artists who create them.
2025 Winner
Bella Poynton
The Appliance Department
Bella Poynton is a playwright, actor, and theatre historian. Her plays have been published with Samuel French, Broadway Play Publishing, Next Stage Press, Applause, Smith & Kraus, and can be seen in The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2024, The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2019, The Best American Short Plays 2018-2019, The Weirdest Plays of 2020, WE-US: Monologues for Gender Minority Characters, and forthcoming in The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2025. Poynton is the senior co-chair of the Playwriting Symposium at the Mid America Theatre Conference and manager of the Playwrights Wing at First Look Buffalo Theatre Company. Recent accolades include The Mighty Maisie at ART of WNY, The AI at Delphi at First Look Buffalo Theatre Company, The AI at Delphi at Bennington Theatre New Works Series, The Appliance Department at New Art City Theatre Festival, and GIRLAXY WARS! at Otherworld’s Paragon Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Play Festival. Poynton is an Assistant Professor of Theatre History, Criticism, and Playwriting at SUNY Oswego State University.
Past Winners
2024
Mark Loewenstern
Near Nellie Bly
2023
Wolfgang Jones
Beginners Guide to Self-Loathing and Why We Say Goodbye
2022
Cathy Dresbach and Ben Tyler
The Truth About Winnie Ruth Judd
2021
Shayne Kennedy
Mrs. Whitman’s Words for Women
2020
T.J. Young
Dark Skin Pavement
2019
Alek Merrilo
Exit 27
2018
Carolyn Nur Wistrand
She Danced With Red Fish
2017
Anna Tatelman
Life on the Moon
2016
Ethan Warren
Why Are You Nowhere
2015
Colin Crowley
Encore, Encore
2014
Eddie Zipperer
Beware the Licorice Vines