Playwriting opportunity

Junkets Publisher: The Collected Series

Short, Sharp and Snappy: S.A. plays for high schools

Junkets Publisher is a small independent publisher in South Africa. It was founded in 2005 by Robin Malan, and in 2009 it was the winner of the Arts & Culture Trust Excellence Award for Literature. It specialises in publishing The Playscript Series, new Southern African plays. It is now moving into a new venture, The Collected Series, consisting of anthologies of new Southern  African plays.

Junkets Publisher is looking for short plays to include in a collection of plays for high school use,
especially for performance or for rehearsed-reading in class. The title and sub-title of the collection will be Short, Sharp and Snappy: Southern African plays for high schools.

Please note the following:

1         This is not a competition, in that there is no monetary prize.

2         Publication in the collection may be regarded as the prize.

3         All plays included in the anthology will share 15% of any profits on a pro rata basis.

4         Authors retain the copyright over their individual plays.

5         If a play is to be publicly performed, the author must be approached for permission beforehand and can require the payment of a performance fee by the school or group planning to perform it.

Criteria for submissions are:

1         The play must be between 1 500 words and 4 500 words, measured from the title to The End by a PC (click on Tools, click on Word Count). The number of words must be stated at the end of the play.

2         Nothing shorter or longer will be considered.

3         The play must be Southern African in nature and character, though it may be set anywhere and at any time (with a preference for the present or future rather than the past).

4         The play must be suitable for reading or performance by high school students, i.e. between the ages of 13 and 20.

5         The author must be a South African or a member of a SADC country or living or working in Southern Africa.

6         There is no age restriction, but it will be interesting to know your age, so please state it.

7         It does not matter whether or not you have had plays published or performed before.

8         Plays must be typed only in Times New Roman 12pt, in single spacing within speeches, with double-spacing between characters’ speeches or stage directions. (Please do not type at 1.5 line spacing or double spacing.)

9         Be sure that each and every sheet or page bears a ‘footer’ which gives your name, the title of the play and your email or postal address.

10     Plays must be submitted electronically by email to info.junkets@iafrica.com or by post to Junkets Publisher 11 Winchester Road Mowbray 7700.

11     Plays must reach Junkets Publisher by midnight on 30 June 2011 to be considered.

12     No late submissions will be considered.

13     If you wish to know that your submission has been received, it must contain an email address to which the receipt can be sent, whether you have emailed or posted your submission.

14     Further correspondence will be entered into only with authors whose plays are accepted for publication.

15     If you haven’t heard back from Junkets by the end of July 2011, you should accept that your submission was not successful.

16     No correspondence can be entered into concerning unsuccessful entries.

17     For further enquiries, contact Robin Malan at email info.junkets@iafrica.com or on cell number 076 169 2789.

Robin Malan Junkets Publisher
11 Winchester Road Mowbray 7700 South Africa
Tel +27 21 448 7186 Fax 086 647 5447 Cell +27 76 169 2789
email robinmal@iafrica.com & info.junkets@iafrica.com
http://junketspublisher.blogspot.com & http://playscriptseries.blogspot.com