The Joseph Curka Award for Young Playwrights
YOUNG
PLAYWRIGHTS
COMPETITION
2027 submission deadline:
January 25, 2027
2026 program has concluded;
meet the finalists below.
Classroom visits
Free virtual workshops by playwrights to NJ classrooms are available to help students get started: 908 809-8865. More resources detailed below.
HOW MY STUDENTS HAVE BENEFITTED
Educator Sandra Toll, Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy, Elizabeth. New Jersey Governor’s Award:
Outstanding Teacher of Theatre & Speech Arts
About the Competition
The goal of the competition is to encourage the next generation of theater practitioners and audience by honoring their work and bringing it to life.
High school students get professional feedback on their work. Winners see their plays staged.
The Theater Project is committed to the concept that participation in the arts builds fundamental skills in reading, writing and critical thinking, crucial at all ages. For this reason, we do not accept entries created with generative AI (more below).
The competition was originally inspired by a generous donation from Linden resident Bill Mesce, an award-winning playwright/screenwriter whose novels have been published by Bantam Books, and by Theater Project friend and patron, Mrs. Marion Curka. The prize received by our honorees is named to honor her husband, Joseph Curka.
Overview
- First, second, and third prize winners receive a cash gift and see their work performed at the March awards ceremony.
- Honorable Mentions receive certificates & gift cards.
- Post-judging, all entrants are offered an opportunity to meet with an adult playwright via Zoom to review their work.
Classroom visits
Free virtual workshops by playwrights to NJ classrooms are available to help students get started: 908 809-8865. More resources detailed below.
Submission window
Please submit between October 15, 2026,
and January 25, 2027.
Each submission MUST contain the following statement in the author's bio:
"By submitting my play, I affirm that generative AI was not used to create this script.”
Submission Instructions
- Entrants must attend a NJ high school or be a home-schooled NJ resident 13-18
- Scripts must be between 10 and 20 pages
- Scripts must be in play format
- Original work only, no adaptations
- One entry per author
To hear former playwright-honorees interviewed and audio recordings of prior years' winning plays, visit our podcast archive, The Theater Project Thinks About ...
To Enter
- Fill out entry form
- Upload script, author bio with required statement (above) and photo
- Pay $10 entry fee by
- by credit card via PayPal LINK
- or check to Box 101, Union, NJ 07083 as prompted when you complete the entry form.
Please contact us if help or waiver for the entry fee is needed: Grace Carver, gacarver10@gmail.com
Cut and paste PayPal Link
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=62GGDSF9K64SE
Join us at the ceremony to see the four winning plays performed script-in-hand and meet the honorees.
"The imagination is not our escape.
On the contrary, the imagination is the place we are all trying to get to.”
― playwright John Guare, Six Degrees of Separation
Resources
- Virtual classroom visits by playwrights available free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis: 908 809-8865
- Interviews with selected past honorees and audio performances of their plays are available in our podcast (below)
- All entrants are offered a no-cost script review with an adult playwright or stage director after honorees have been announced
Many of our young playwrights are featured in episodes of our podcast (right), THE THEATER PROJECT THINKS ABOUT ...
Hear more HERE
2026 HONOREES
First Prize:
TO BE
by Emily Ommerborn
Middletown High School South
Second Prize:
THE AUTHOR
by Shawn Ribeiro
Communications High School, Wall Township
Third Prize (a tie):
THE GREAT FOOD FIGHT OF HAPPY TIMES NURSING HOME
by Natalie Boyle
Park Ridge High School
DIEGO’S REVENGE
by Teni Richard
Park Ridge High School
Honorable Mentions:
SIXTEEN-HUNDRED YEARS OF SKY by Somni Baboulis
Bergen County Academies, Hackensack
EN GARDE! by Angelina Freel-DiPalma
ROUGHHOUSING by Sean Sharkey
Communications High School, Wall Township
EMPTY CHAIR by Mars A, AKA Mariya Antsiferova
WAKE UP by Katelyn Driscoll
OSTINATO by Kayla Friedmann
THE GARDEN’S LAMENT by Eden Roberts
Middletown High School South
THE SLOTH by Lucas Fedzina
Park Ridge High School.
The Joseph Curka Award for Young Playwrights
Made possible in part by the generosity of Mrs. Marion Curka
About
Joseph Curka
Mr. Curka loved the theater, and the prize for the YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS COMPETITION was named in his memory by his wife, Mrs. Marion Curka, a staunch supporter of The Theater Project and young artists.
Mrs. Curka also supported women's shelters, services to women who were substance abusers, victims of domestic violence, and services to children, such as Toys for Tots, Junior Olympics and PAL. Her kind and loving spirit lives on through the many beneficiaries of her generosity.
