WILLIAM SAROYAN PRIZE for PLAYWRITING

Administered by ADAA
Granted by The William Saroyan Foundation

 

Winner of the 2012 Saroyan Prize:

Kelly Stuart, "Belonging to the Sky"

ABOUT THE AWARD

The 2nd Biennial William Saroyan Prize for Playwriting ($10,000) will be awarded in 2012 for a stage play based on Armenian themes. The award will be presented publicly at a west coast event administered by the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance. A panel of noted industry professionals will select winning script. This prize is administered by ADAA through a grant from the William Saroyan Foundation. This prize is administered by ADAA through a grant from the William Saroyan Foundation with additional funding from Gagosian Galleries.

TICKETS

Sevan Kaloustian Greene

Adriana Sevahn Nichols

Kelly Stuart

RULES & GUIDELINES

All submissions must be postmarked by March 15, 2012. ADAA accepts no liability whatsoever for loss or non-receipt of any script.

Winning stage play will be announced in August 2012.

Scripts must be based on Armenian subjects (no restrictions on style, location or time period).

Submissions must be full-length original works or adaptations, written in English.

Scripts cannot be submitted a second time in a future cycle of the competition, even if substantially revised.

Adaptations or works based upon an underlying work are accepted.

Submitted plays must have had a professional reading or production within the last three years.

Submitted plays may not be under option for professional production at the time of submission.

Submitted stage plays must be wholly the original work of the writer (s).

Submitted stage plays must be free of any encumbrances, not subject to any arrangements or agreements that would preclude the development or production of the material. Writers are required to notify ADAA immediately if material submitted for consideration under the terms and conditions of this competition is optioned during the judging period.

Translations will be accepted. It is the submitting writer's responsibility to arrange for their own translations, at their own expense.

ADAA will not accept unsolicited updated drafts or revised pages of any stage plays or any additions after they have been received.

Each person can submit a maximum of one full-length script.

Stage plays written by more than one person are eligible; however, only one prize of $10,000 will be given for the winning selection.

The winner of the award will be responsible for any and all tax liabilities associated with the prize.

All writers of submitted stage plays must be at 18 years of age or older.

Writers need not be of Armenian descent. Writers from any country or ethnicity are eligible.

Scripts must be in English, with the title, name of writer(s) and contact information on the title page ONLY.

Scripts should be between 90-130 pages and in standard stage play format.

Fonts should be 12-point Courier or Times New Roman.

No scripts will be returned.

Electronic submissions are required (adaa@armeniandrama.org).

ADAA's employees, contractors, Board of Directors, and contest jury, as well as board members of the William Saroyan Foundation are not eligible.

Failure to adhere to these rules and guidelines will result in disqualification and forfeiture of the entry fee.

Failure to adhere to correct formatting will also result in disqualification.

Phone calls regarding the contest will not be returned. If you have any further questions after reading the rules, you may contact ADAA at the general email address at adaa@armeniandrama.org with ”William Saroyan Contest inquiry” written in the subject line.

Judging will be performed by trained readers and/or industry professionals and/or principals of the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance. The top three (3) selected finalists will be read by the panel of finalist judges. The judges’ decisions will be final and you must abide by the decision of the judges with regard to all matters.

Entry fees are nonrefundable. No entry will be read until the entry fee is received.

The Winner of the competition will affix the “DEVELOPED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF (ADAA LOGO)” to the work and provide for the following credit in any contract for the development or production of the work: “DEVELOPED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF (ADAA LOGO).” In addition, this credit will be provided on the title page of all printed materials of future readings, workshops, productions, recordings, and publications of their projects and in the case of productions, to include the “DEVELOPED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF (ADAA LOGO)” as part of the credit sequence. In addition, upon acceptance of the first place price, the winning author(s) shall grant to ADAA the nonexclusive right to use the name, likeness and approved biography of all authors of the work for use in the development and promotion of ADAA activities.

The ADAA and the Sponsor reserves the right to modify or cancel this contest at any time. In the event of a cancellation prior to the first prize being awarded, the ADAA shall return all entry fees unless unable to do so due to a natural disaster. By participating in this contest, each person submitting material hereby releases and agrees to hold harmless the ADAA, its affiliates, partners, subsidiaries, officers, directors, agents, employees and all entities associated with ADAA from and against any liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys fees) arising from the development, promotion and exploitation of such persons submitted materials.

Any disputes shall be submitted to arbitration in Boston, Massachusetts, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the American Arbitration Association then in effect. The arbitrator’s decision shall be controlled by the terms and conditions of this agreement and shall be final and binding, and shall provide for each party to bear his or its own costs of arbitration and attorneys’ fees.

 

TO ENTER:

Submit the following materials:
• Electronic submissions are required (adaa@armeniandrama.org).
• Contact information should be on the title page ONLY.
• A completed entry form, signed by all writers. For ENTRY FORM CLICK HERE.
• A non-refundable entry fee of $20.00 (check or money order only) made out to the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance.
• A brief synopsis (one page maximum)
• Character breakdown
• A biography and photograph of the entrant.
• A resume including entrant’s body of work, proof of submitted play's staged reading or production.

 

POSTMARK DEADLINE

January 1- March 15th, 2012

*Email Submissions Only*

EMAIL SUBMISSIONS TO:

adaa@armeniandrama.org

 

2012 HONORARY JURY

Gates McFadden

Eduardo Machado

Catherine Filloux

Curt Columbus

Mark Ravenhill

Oskar Eustis

 

Finalists

 

 

FLESH AND TENDERNESS, by Kristen Lazarian
A fourth-generation Armenian American woman coming to terms with her family history.

 

THE LIVING AND THE DEAD, by Matthew 'Yazo' Yaldezian
Recounting the early life, love and writings of William Saroyan.

Deborah Salzer

Mac Wellman

Leslie Ayvazian

 

WILLIAM SAROYAN (1908-1981)

 

"In the time of your life, live -- so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches. Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding place and let be free and unashamed. Place in matter and in flesh the least of the values, for these are the things that hold death and must pass away. Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption. Encourage virtue in whatever heart it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the shame and terror of the world. Ignore the obvious, for it is unworthy of the clear eye and the kindly heart. Be the inferior of no man, nor of anyman be the superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart. Despise evil and ungodliness, but not men of ungodliness or evil. Have no shame in being kindly or gentle.

In the time of your life, live....so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it."
William Saroyan, playwright - "The Time of Your Life"
1939 Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award and New York Critics Circle Award for Best Play

 

THE WILLIAM SAROYAN FOUNDATION

Established by William Saroyan - December 30, 1966

www.williamsaroyanfoundation.org

“Among my papers are manuscripts of unpublished stories, essays, autobiographical works, novels, plays, and thousands of carbon copies of letters, and all of this material very probably has a value, both in terms of materialistic terms and in terms of art, that I want it all to be at least organized and made accessible to the appropriate persons such as biographers, scholars, researchers [and] students…” – William Saroyan

The Foundation has overseen the archives of William Saroyan since Saroyan founded it in 1966. In the late 1990s the Foundation donated all of Saroyan’s literary papers to Stanford University Libraries, which now holds the William Saroyan Collection at the Department of Special Collections. The Foundation has also established various writing prizes to honor Saroyan’s legacy.

 

 

Haig G. Mardikian

 

President of the William Saroyan Foundation, Presenter of the Prize

A graduate of Trinity College and Harvard Business School, Haig Mardikian is a longtime financial investment executive and current owner of Haig Mardikian Enterprises, a real estate investment firm. He is President of the William Saroyan Foundation in San Francisco, which was established by Saroyan himself. He serves on the Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and is a Trustee of the Herbert Hoover Foundation and Presidential Library Association. He is also President/Trustee of the Foundation of City College of San Francisco. His civic involvements around the Bay Area are numerous. He is married to Constance (Black) Mardikian and they have two children: daughter Sasha and son John Haig.

 

 

Robert Setrakian

 

ADAA honors the memory of Robert Setrakian –

Businessman, Friend of Saroyan, and

Past President of the William Saroyan Foundation,

who passed away on September 2, 2010 at age 86

and was instrumental in establishing

ADAA’s William Saroyan Prize for Playwriting.