Young Playwrights in Process (YPiP) Scholarship Writing Competition

Be inspired by writing!

Young playwrights – if you have a story to tell, we want to read it! Submit your play to YPiP and have the chance to receive $1,000!

About YPIP

Young Playwrights in Process (YPiP) is an online playwriting competition for Indiana students in grades 6-12. The competition was created by IRT in 2005 through the Margot L. and Robert S. Eccles Trust. YPiP encourages middle and high school students across Indiana to write, creating plays that reflect and challenge their world.

YPiP submissions and workshops will be done entirely online so we can continue to connect students across the state.  In honor of YPiP’s 20^th anniversary, the final celebration will be held at the Indiana Repertory Theatre.

Educators – you can include our playwriting lessons as a part of your curriculum! You can find these lessons in the “How do I Participate? section below.

Click here to view academic state standards for YPiP.

Submission Guidelines

• YPiP celebrates the art of the short play. Submitted plays must be no more than 2000 words in total (including title and stage directions). This should be about 10 (ten) double-spaced pages, or about 10 (ten) minutes of performance time.
• Plays must have no more than 4 (four) characters, and no narrators.
• Do not put your name, school, or teacher’s name on the script. There should be no identifying information on the play itself.
• Plays must be original works. No adaptations of other stories, television shows, plays, musicals, or movies.
• Students must be enrolled full-time in middle school, high school, or home school in grades 6-12 in the state of Indiana.
• Only one playwright per script submission.
• Students may submit up to a total of three short plays per student.
• The YPiP entry form must be completed with each submission.
• Students must be available to attend the Finalist Weekend.

Any entries not meeting the above requirements will be disqualified.

What Happens Next?

Submission Deadline: January 12, 2026

• The deadline to submit your play is January 12 at 5 PM.
• All submissions will receive an email with feedback from a theatre professional who read their play.

Semi-Finals: February 9, 2026

• A selection of top playwrights are invited to our Semi-Finals Workshop to work on revising their play and developing new playwriting skills.
• Following the workshop, students will have two weeks to revise their plays and resubmit them. Resubmitted plays will be read by new theatre professionals who will give students specialized feedback and advice for additional revisions.

Finalist Weekend: March 20-21, 2026

• Six playwrights will be selected as Finalists.
• Finalists will be a part of our Finalist Weekend where they will hear their play read by professional actors and work one-on-one with directors and playwrights.
• Playwrights from this round will take what they learned to revise their plays and resubmit them for a final round of feedback.

In-Person Celebration: April 25. 2026

• Two playwrights will be selected as the Winners.
• Winners will have their full play read by professional actors at the In-person Celebration. Finalists will have an excerpt from their play acted by professional actors as part of the celebration program.
• Winners and finalists will spend the day with theatre professionals helping with the rehearsal of their play, enjoying lunch with the company, receiving their prizes at the celebration program, and enjoying Come From Away with their families at the 7:30 PM performance. All activities will take place at the Indiana Repertory Theatre. 

​Please note that to be eligible for semi-finals and finals, students must be available for all scheduled workshops and events.