2021 COMPETITION & AWARD CEREMONY
Participating students have the option of submitting their final drafts to a panel of professional playwrights and theatre artists who pick winning submissions and provide feedback. The winning pieces are presented in a public reading at the annual awards ceremony.
THE 2021 YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS WINNERS ARE!
Covid Couples Therapy by Orion Masterson, Annika Shiman, and Ely White, 8th graders at Marlboro School (Ani Shaeffer, teacher); Decisions, a monologue by Leon Bell, 10th grader at Long Trail School (Anna Bean, teacher); The Destiny of Fate by Lily Hutcheson, 9th grader at Burr and Burton Academy (Jim Raposa, teacher); Inner Anxiety, a monologue by Christian Stridsberg, a senior at U32 (Erin Galligan-Baldwin, teacher); Unspeakable by Ezra Blankenbaker, a senior at Long Trail School (Luke Krueger, teacher); Deductions by Anneka K. Yuengling 9th grader at Woodstock Union High School (Michelle Fountain, teacher); and Rusty and Alabama by Cameron Burdick, 6th grader at Brownington Central School (Skye Devarney, teacher).
Honorable mentions include:
Michael by Logan Bushway, 7th grader at VTVLC (Edith Ainsley, teacher); Quantum Mech-Antics by Noah Diedrich, a senior at Arlington Memorial High School (Gayna Cross, teacher); and Rhythm City by Frasier Bergman and Eliza Mikheev, 6th graders at Maple Street School (Conor Welch, teacher).
PAST WINNERS
2020 Winners receive their awards in a virtual ceremony. Clockwise from top-left: Heidi Armbruster, Young Playwrights Coordinator and Teacher, and Dina Janis, Artistic Director at Dorset Theatre Festival, present 2020's winning Young Playwrights their awards in an online event. Congratulations to Shea Smithwick and Matthew Califano.
Professional actors read selections from the winning pieces. From top-left: Ted Koch, Juan Villa, Michael Laurence, Mary Bacon, Matthew Califano, Shea Smithwick, Heidi Armbruster, and Dina Janis.
2020 WINNERS
Shea Smithwick from Maple Street School in Dorset and
Matthew Califano from Craftsbury Academy in Craftsbury.
2019 WINNERS
Middle School:
Addie Dennes & Anna Markcrow, and Kaya Pedersen & Clara Vickers, from Maple Street School (faculty mentor: Conor Welch)
High School:
Clarissa Pollard from Stratton Mountain School (faculty mentor: Mary Mangiacotti)
Zoe Grigsby from Burr & Burton Academy (faculty mentor: James Raposa).
2018 WINNERS
Middle School:
Cristina Gregory from Stratton Mountain School (faculty mentor: Mary Mangiacotti)
Meredith Haber and Mackenzie Morgan, who co-wrote their submission, from Maple Street School (faculty mentor: Conor Welch)
High School:
Katie McCartney from Arlington Memorial School (faculty mentor: Gayna Cross)
Max Harvey Wilson from Long Trail School (faculty mentors: Anna Bean and James Gallen)
2017 WINNERS
Middle School:
George Zilkha from Maple Street School (faculty mentor: Conor Welch)
High School:
Will Koch from Stratton Mountain School (faculty mentor: Mary Mangiacotti)
Gracie Smith from Arlington Memorial School (faculty mentor: Gayna Cross)
Rudy Senecal from Burr and Burton Academy (faculty mentor: James Raposa)