--- title: 10:4 TENN Playwright Contest description: Playwriting contest for 10-minute plays inspired by Tennessee Williams; top 3 win cash prizes and a staged reading at the Tennessee Williams Tribute Festival. url: https://www.artsume.com/programs/001026fb-2733-4102-a60c-9a27ead75db5 type: program status: open createdAt: "2026-10-24" updatedAt: "2026-10-24" programType: Prize/award organization: Ponder Review organizationUrl: https://www.artsume.com/o/ponder-review deadline: "2026-12-14" entryFee: 2 USD location: Tennessee Williams Tribute Festival, Columbus, MS, United States isOnline: false compensationRange: $200/$150/$100 cash prizes for 1st/2nd/3rd place, plus a festival pass and a staged performance of the winning plays at the Tennessee Williams Tribute Festival; 1st place also gets publication in the Fall Ponder Review issue. disciplines: - playwriting --- # 10:4 TENN Playwright Contest **Hosted by:** Ponder Review **Type:** Prize/award | **Location:** Tennessee Williams Tribute Festival, Columbus, MS, United States | **Deadline:** December 14, 2026 | **Entry fee:** $2 ## About This Program > "The Southern experience and the legacy of Tennessee Williams" ### About This Call Ponder Review, in partnership with the Tennessee Williams Tribute Festival, is launching our annual 10:4 Tenn Playwright Contest! This competition seeks to recognize and honor the Southern experience and the legacy of Columbus's native son, Tennessee Williams through the craft of playwriting. The top three playwrights will receive a cash prize, a festival pass, and have their 10-minute plays produced and performed in front of a live audience at the Tennessee Williams Tribute Festival. Directors and actors will be students from the Mississippi University for Women theatre department. Each play will be read by the staff of Ponder Review for the first round, then after carefully making their selections, the finalists will be sent off to the final judge who will decide the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. The guest judge this year is Kira Obolensky, an award-winning writer who lives in Minneapolis. Her plays have been produced Off Broadway, in Los Angeles, in Prague and Terezin, and in many non-traditional theater spaces. She has received the Kesselring Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Mellon Playwright Fellowship, which put her in residence with Ten Thousand Things for six years. Most recently, she worked with Mixed Blood Theater and Riverplace in Warroad to create a community play called Warroad Community Potluck, that was performed by the community and directed by Michael John Garcés. Her newest play, Willa Cather Is Dying, was part of Illusion Theater's 2026 Fresh Ink series. She co-wrote a national bestseller about architecture, The Not So Big House, and has published two other books about architecture. Her short fiction has appeared in The Brooklyn Review, in hive literary, in Rollick, and in Quarterly West, where her novella, The Anarchists Float to St. Louis, won the novella prize. She attended Juilliard's Playwriting Program, Williams College, and received an MFA in Fiction Writing from Warren Wilson. She teaches at Spalding University's Naslund Mann Graduate School of Writing. Kira is a proud member of the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis and The Tent in NYC. Winners of the seventh annual 10:4 Tenn Playwright Contest will be announced Spring 2027. 1st place winner will be awarded a $200 cash prize as well as publication in the Fall Ponder Review issue. 2nd place will be awarded a $150 cash prize, and 3rd place will be awarded a $100 cash prize. ### 10:4 TENN 10-Minute Play Contest Submission Guidelines - Plays must be at maximum 10 minutes long and inspired by the work of Tennessee Williams - Maximum cast of 5 characters - Play must include character and set descriptions - Submissions should be Times New Roman 12pt font, double-spaced, in standard playwriting format - Limit 1 play per playwright - Along with submission, include a bio and brief synopsis of the play - Musicals will not be accepted - Plays should be unpublished. Ponder Review requires first-time North American publishing rights and retains the right to reprint accepted submissions in subsequent anthologies even after publication rights have reverted back to author. - By entering this contest, the playwright claims sole ownership of work submitted and accepts responsibility for any appropriated material. Mississippi University for Women and Ponder Review accept no liability for any work used without permission. - Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please contact Ponder Review if your work has been accepted for publication elsewhere. - Manuscripts should contain no identifying information and must be submitted through Submittable only. - Students and alumni of Mississippi University for Women's MFA program in creative writing may not submit to Ponder Review for at least 5 years from their time in the program. - Submissions will be accepted from September 16, 2026 until December 14, 2026. ## Eligibility & Requirements - **Geographic Eligibility:** International - **Disciplines:** playwriting - **Note:** Students and alumni of Mississippi University for Women's MFA program in creative writing may not submit to Ponder Review for at least 5 years from their time in the program. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but the writer should contact Ponder Review if the work has been accepted for publication elsewhere. ### Additional Requirements - Plays must be at maximum 10 minutes long and inspired by the work of Tennessee Williams - Maximum cast of 5 characters - Play must include character and set descriptions - Times New Roman 12pt font, double-spaced, standard playwriting format - Limit 1 play per playwright - Include a bio and brief synopsis of the play - Musicals will not be accepted - No identifying information in the manuscript - Submit through Submittable only ## Compensation & Benefits $200/$150/$100 cash prizes for 1st/2nd/3rd place, plus a festival pass and a staged performance of the winning plays at the Tennessee Williams Tribute Festival; 1st place also gets publication in the Fall Ponder Review issue. **Includes:** Prize 1st place winner is awarded a $200 cash prize as well as publication in the Fall Ponder Review issue. 2nd place is awarded a $150 cash prize, and 3rd place is awarded a $100 cash prize. All three winners receive a festival pass and have their 10-minute plays produced and performed in front of a live audience at the Tennessee Williams Tribute Festival, directed and acted by students from the Mississippi University for Women theatre department. ## Timeline - **Opens:** September 15, 2026 - **Deadline:** December 14, 2026 ## How to Apply Apply at: https://ponderreview.submittable.com/submit/72831/104-tenn-10-minute-play-contest