Call for Submissions: Playwriting

On November 9, 2026, the Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) will award a prize of $3,000 to honour excellence in dramatic literature by a Quebec English-language playwright. Infinithéâtre will also offer the winning playwright a professional reading or workshop (with one director and up to five actors) for a future play. This prize is awarded every two years and has a two-year eligibility span.

To submit a book, the publisher, producer, or playwright must submit the following by the appropriate deadline (see “Submission Deadlines” below): 

• A completed submission form
• Payment of the submission fee
• The required number of physical copies of the play
• The PDF version of the play

Eligibility Criteria

1. The play must be published or premiered between August 1, 2024, and September 30, 2026 (“the eligibility period”). 
2. The play must meet at least one of the following criteria:
   1. The play must be published within the eligibility period with an ISBN and be commercially available to the Canadian public. The book may be traditionally published, hybrid-published, or self-published and may be available exclusively in digital format or print-on-demand.
   2. The play’s premiere must have been professionally produced within the eligibility period either by a Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) company or under a contract by the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association (CAEA) or an equivalent professional actors’ association.
3. The play must have an estimated performance length of at least 45 minutes.
4. The play must be an original work written in English.
   1. Retellings of traditional stories may be eligible only if the text and interpretation are the playwright’s original work.
5. The play must be self-contained and not dependent on other media.
6. The play may have no more than two playwrights.
7. Musicals may be eligible, but only the textual component will be evaluated. The writer of the dramatic text will be considered the playwright.
8. At the time of submission, the playwright must be alive, must have a residence in Quebec, and must not have lived exclusively outside Quebec for the past five years.
   1. If a play has two playwrights, at least one playwright must meet all of these requirements. 
9. The prize will be awarded to the playwright.
   1. If a co-authored play wins, the prize will be divided equally between the two playwrights. 
   2. If a winning playwright is deceased, the playwright’s estate will receive the prize the playwright would have received if the playwright were alive.
10. A play may be submitted to the QWF Awards only once.
    1. A play published or premiered between August 1, 2026, and September 30, 2026, may instead be submitted to the 2028 Awards, only if it was not submitted to the 2026 Awards.
    2. A rewritten, expanded, or otherwise altered play may be eligible only if QWF deems it a new play. 
11. Translations are ineligible.
12. The QWF Awards were created to recognize the merit, voice, and originality of work by living authors. As such, plays written by generative AI are ineligible.
13. Submitters who are unsure about the eligibility of their play must contact QWF by May 15, 2026.
14. QWF reserves the right to determine the eligibility of any submission at any stage of the competition and to disqualify any entry found to be ineligible.

Submission Requirements

A play may be submitted by its publisher, producer, or playwright. The submitter is responsible for ensuring that QWF has received all required materials for each entry by the deadline:

1. A completed submission form via Submittable. 
2. Payment of the $35 non-refundable submission fee. Submitters may pay either via Submittable or by sending the QWF office a cheque payable to “Quebec Writers’ Federation.” Payments made through Submittable are subject to the platform’s processing fees.
   1. A submitter with at least five submissions is eligible for a $5 discount per entry. For example, a publisher submitting five titles may pay $150 instead of $175. The discount must be claimed at the time of payment and cannot be applied retroactively.
   2. The registration fees for withdrawn, disqualified, or duplicate submissions are non-refundable.
3. A PDF of the play. PDFs may be uploaded via Submittable or sent by email to info@qwf.org.
4. Physical copies of the play. Plays must be mailed to the QWF office.
   1. If the play is published, five copies of the final book must be sent.
      1. Physical copies are not required for published plays that are available exclusively in electronic format.
      2. If the final book is unavailable by the August 1 deadline, three advance review copies (ARCs) must also be sent, unless the publisher does not produce ARCs.
   2. If the play is professionally produced and not published, four copies of the final production script must be sent.
      1. If the final production script is unavailable by the August 1 deadline, three copies of the most recent rehearsal script must also be sent.

Plays and cheques must be mailed to the following address:

Quebec Writers’ Federation
1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3
Westmount QC, H3Z 1X4

The submitter is responsible for all shipping fees, including duties and taxes. If QWF must pay a fee to receive a package, QWF will invoice the submitter for the amount paid. Reimbursement must be received by June 3 for the entry to remain eligible.

Submission Deadlines

Requirement	Applicability	Deadline
Submission Form	All Entries	June 3, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET
Submission Fee	All Entries	June 3, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET
PDF	Plays published or premiered between August 1, 2024, and May 15, 2026	June 3, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET
	Plays published or premiered between May 16, 2026, and September 30, 2026	August 1, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET*
Final Physical Copies	Plays published or premiered between August 1, 2024, and May 15, 2026	June 3, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET
	Plays published or premiered between May 16, 2026, and September 30, 2026	September 30, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET*
Advance Review Copies	Plays published between May 16, 2026, and September 30, 2026, if final copies are not yet available by August 1, 2026	August 1, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET*
Rehearsal Scripts	Plays premiered between May 16, 2026, and September 30, 2026, if final copies are not yet available by August 1, 2026	August 1, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET*

*If the PDF and final physical copies are available before these dates, QWF encourages the early submission of these materials.

After Submission

1. If fewer than six plays are submitted in a given prize category, that prize will not be awarded this year. The plays will be automatically entered into the next competition in 2028, and no further submission fee will be required.
2. QWF will process the entry and review its eligibility upon receipt of all required materials by the appropriate deadline.
3. QWF will notify the submitter once all required materials have been received.
4. QWF will notify the submitter of an ineligible entry on the action QWF will take.
5. QWF will add all submitted entries to the QWF Literary Database of Quebec English-Language Authors.
6. For plays published in book form, QWF will shelve one copy in the QWF Collection at the Atwater Library.
7. QWF will appoint an independent, three-member jury to evaluate all eligible submissions.
8. QWF will announce a shortlist of at least three finalists in mid-October.
9. For shortlisted plays published in book form, QWF will make copies available for room use at the QWF office.
10. QWF will feature all shortlisted plays in QWF Awards Gala materials and publicity. Shortlisted playwrights, publishers, and producers are encouraged to support these publicity efforts.
11. QWF will provide each shortlisted playwright with two complimentary VIP tickets to the QWF Awards Gala, where the winners will be announced.
12. QWF will offer all shortlisted playwrights a complimentary one-year QWF membership.
13. QWF will exhibit all shortlisted plays at the Atwater Library for up to one year. 
14. For shortlisted and winning plays published in book form, QWF will send finalist and winner stickers to the applicable publisher.
15. QWF will facilitate an introduction between the winning playwright and a representative of Infinithéâtre.

For inquiries, please send an email to info@qwf.org or call (514) 244-9088.