The RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival – 2026 Schools Playwright Competition
Rules.
1 All participants must be Transition Year Students only and in second level schools. There is no entry fee.
Entries must be submitted by an individual student only. Submissions from groups or two students working together will not be accepted. Entries may be submitted in Irish but will be translated to English for judging.
2 Schools may submit between one and three entries only from each TY class on the theme of ‘Change’.
Entrants will each receive a Certificate of Participation if their submission is complete.
Prize winners may be requested to participate in publicity by way of photographs/interviews.
3. Entries must be typed up and formatted as a script (Approximately 2,000 words, excluding stage directions). Type ‘END’ on the last page. Give the play an appropriate title. The title of the play must appear as a header on every page and page numbers must be in the footer. Please send in .doc, .docx or .pdf format or allow access to editing so file can be saved.
4 AN ENTRY FORM MUST BE COMPLETED IN FULL FOR EACH SCRIPT WHEN SUBMITTED. THE NAME OF THE ENTRANT OR SCHOOL MUST NOT APPEAR ON THE SCRIPT.
5 Plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification. Entries must be the original work of the entrant. Individual entries must not have been published elsewhere or have won a prize in any other competition. AI/CHAT GPT GENERATED SCRIPTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
6 Entries must be emailed to:- schoolsplaywright@gmail.com (not dropbox etc.) to arrive by Friday 19th December 2025
7 The decision of the adjudicators will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
The RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival organisers reserve the right to amend or change any aspect of the terms and conditions/rules of the competition, as might be required, without prior notice.
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