Our goal is to introduce the joy of writing for live theatre to young people, and to give teens a creative voice in expressing their thoughts and ideas. Our program encourages students to write about subjects that are meaningful to them, and to give educators tools to incorporate playwriting into their theatre or language arts classrooms.

Lesson Plans

PBD offers a detailed five-day lesson plan with supporting documents and benchmarks that give educators a clear, strong sequence for creating a 10-minute play.

• Lesson Plans
• Formatting Guidelines
• Rubric

PBD offers a detailed five-day lesson plan with supporting documents and benchmarks that give educators a clear, strong sequence for creating a 10-minute play. However, educators are not required to use PBD's lesson plans. Please feel free to use any lesson plan that complements your process. Educators may also choose to incorporate a portion of PBD's lesson plan into their curriculum.

Submission Information

• The contest is open to all Palm Beach County students in grades 9 – 12
• Submission deadline: Friday, November 14 @ 5pm
• All plays must be submitted by an educator or school administrator
• All plays must be 10 minutes long. We do not accept one-act or full-length plays at this time
• Plays must be submitted as Word or PDF documents
• Educators submitting multiple plays should organize them in a folder and submit by email, Google Drive, or Dropbox to Gary Cadwallader: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Please be sure all plays have a title page with the following: Title of play, Author, School, Teacher's name, Teacher's email address and telephone number
• All entries will receive a confirmation email after submission
• Finalists announced: Monday, December 1 @ 5pm
• Winners announced: Thursday, December 18 @ 5pm
• Winner orientation/photo shoot: Wednesday, January 14 @ 6pm
• Writer’s Workshop: Saturday, January 24: morning or afternoon
• Rehearsals: February 28 or March 1
• Performance: Tuesday, March 3 @ 7pm 

Contest Details:

• 20 finalists will be selected. Each finalist will be given professional feedback for improving and revising their play
• Each finalist will be given one week for revisions
• Up to 10 winning plays are chosen by a panel of professional playwrights and theatre practitioners using a carefully constructed rubric. The rubric is found in the PBD lesson plans
• Winning plays will be assigned a professional director and actors, and revisions will continue throughout the rehearsal process
• Each winner will receive a $250 cash prize and a beautifully published anthology that includes their play

For more information, please see our Frequently Asked Questions 

Congratulations to the 2025 Winners