The National Student Playwriting Award
The National Student Playwriting Award, initiated in 1974, is part of the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program. The purpose of this award 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 may 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.
- The Kennedy Center will award the playwright a cash prize of $2500.
- The Kennedy Center will award the playwright a cash prize of $2500.
- Dramatists Guild Award. The Dramatists Guild Award provides the playwright with Active membership in the Guild.
- Professional Development Fellowship. The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival will provide the award recipient with an all-expenses paid professional development opportunity.
- 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 Student Playwriting Award recipient in a public ceremony during the KCACTF National Festival.
For other questions, refer to Rules and Procedures for the Michael Kanin Playwriting Awards Program" above.
The National Student Playwriting Award Winners
- 2010
- FALLUJAH by Evan Sanderson, Boston University
- Runner-up COW PLAY by Matthew George, Yale University
- 2009
- diventare by Jenny Rachel Weiner, Boston University
- 2008
- House of Several Stories by A. John Boulanger, Texas State University
- Runner-up - Dearborn Americana by Christian Krauspe, Arizona State University, produced by Western Illinois University
- 2007
- House Full of Letters by Kit Steinkellner, UCLA
- 2006
- In the Sawtooths by Dano Madden, Rutgers University, produced by Boise State University
- Runner-up - Song of Miriam by Gabrielle Orcha, Boston University
- 2005
- Social Darwinism by Angela Gant, Playwrights' Theatre of Texas Tech University
- 2004
- Jasper Lake by John Kuntz, Playwrights' Theatre of Boston University
- 2003
- Good Morning Athens! A Rock Musical, Book, Music and Lyrics by Sean Keogh, University of Wyoming
- 2002
- Training Wisteria by Molly Smith Metzler, Playwrights’ Theatre of Boston University
- 2001
- The Lepers of Baile Baiste, by Ronan Noone, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre at Boston University
- 2000
- it is no desert by Dan Stroeh, Wittenberg University
- 1999
- Lot's Daughters by Rebecca Basham, University of New Orleans, Louisiana
- 1998
- Onionheads by Jesse Miller, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
- 1997
- Carriage by Jerome Hairston, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia
- 1996
- The Last Supper Restoration, Dan O'Brien, Middlebury College, VT
- 1995
- An' Push da Wind Down, Lisa Harper, University of Southern California
- 1994
- Father's Prize Poland China, Shirley Sergent, University of New Orleans, LA
- 1993
- Prisoner, James A. Bell, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
- 1992
- All That He Was, Larry Johnson and Cindy O'Connor, California State University-Fullerton
- 1991
- A Warring Absence, Jody Duncan, California State University, San Bernadino
- 1990
- The Art of Waiting, Rob Shin, Brown University, Providence, RI
- 1989
- The Lower Rooms, Eliza Anderson, Brown Unviersity, Providence, RI
- 1988
- Blue Collar Blues, Denise Kay Dillard, University of Minnesota, Duluth
- 1987
- no winner selected this year
- 1986
- Nijinsky: God's Mad Clown, Glenn Blumstein, University of Iowa, Iowa City
- 1985
- Dancers, Michael Grady, University of Arizona, Tuscon
- 1984
- Excursion Fare, Dennis Smith, University of Oregon, Eugene
- 1983
- Eleven Zulu, Patrick Sean Clark, University of Missouri, Columbia
- 1982
- The Bulldog and the Bear, Richard Gordon, California State University, Fullerton
- 1981
- The Cashier, Glen Merzer, Indiana University, Bloomington
- 1980
- Going On!, Glenn Treibitz, William Paterson College, Wayne, NJ
- 1979
- The Diviners, James Leonard, Jr., Hanover College, IN
- 1978
- The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, Lee Blessing, University of Iowa, Iowa City
- 1977
- Sideshow, Rick Smith, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX
- 1976
- Meg, Paula Vogel, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- 1975
- Conpersonas, Paul Stephen Lim, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KA
- 1974
- Medea: A Noh Cycle Based on the Greek Myth, Carol Sorgenfrei, University of California, Santa Barbara
- 1973
- The Soft Touch, Neil Cuthbert, Douglass College, New Brunswick, NJ
