24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2025

Open Category (19 years and above): $60 (Inclusive of $6 Booking Fee)

Youth Category (15 - 18 years and above): $60 (Inclusive of $6 Booking Fee)

Synopsis

At the intersection of two milestone anniversaries, T:>Works celebrates 40 years and National Gallery Singapore marks its 10 years with a co-production of the T:>Works legacy programme 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2025 and post-competition Dramatised Reading in 2026. The Competition will happen from 15 November 2025, 11am to 16 November 2025, 11am at National Gallery Singapore, which joins T:>Works as the programme’s Venue and Programme Partner.

Underpinned by a series of stimuli and fringe activities co-conceptualised by T:>Works and the Gallery, 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2025 will respond to the two installations, both commissioned under the Gallery’s OUTBOUND series—reimagining transitional spaces and key entrances at the Gallery through a series of unique artwork commissions, developed in collaboration with leading artists from around the world—Angin Cloud by Art Labor and Eidolon by Vong Phaophanit and Claire Oboussier. Engaging deeply with the themes and spatial ideas present in the artworks, the participants will be challenged to write a play within 24 hours reimagining notions of time and place; of modernisation and colonial histories through individual creative lenses.

Aimed to nurture vibrant transdisciplinary dialogue between the performing and visual arts, and broader cultural research, look forward to discursive engagements with and between theatremakers, playwrights, visual artists, and curators.

The selected winning scripts will be developed and staged through a mentoring programme with established directors, actors, and dramaturgs, culminating at a Dramatised Reading.

Jury Panels and Game Master

The transdisciplinary direction of 2025 edition of the 24-Hour Playwriting Competition is underscored with the inclusion of Adele Tan, Senior Curator at National Gallery Singapore, as part of jury panel alongside theatre director and performer Tan Shou Chen, as well as playwright Myle Yan Tay, joined by actress and playwright Jo Tan as programme-facilitating Game Master.

Adele Tan (Jury)

Adele Tan is Senior Curator and Assistant Director (Curatorial Programmes) at National Gallery Singapore. She received her PhD in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Her curatorial work and research focus on modern and contemporary Southeast Asian and Chinese art, with a special interest in performative practices, photography, and new media. Some of her major exhibitions include Yayoi Kusama: Life is the Heart of a Rainbow (2017), Awakenings: Art in Society in Asia 1960s–1990s (2019), Kim Lim: The Space Between. A Retrospective (2024) and Singapore Stories: Pathways and Detours in Art (2025), where she is the lead curator. Other major commissions she curated at the Gallery are the 2019 and 2023 annual Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commissions with artists Charles Lim Yi Yong and Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta respectively, as well as the inaugural series of OUTBOUND commissions with Yee I-Lann, Haegue Yang, Gary Carsley and Jane Lee. In addition to her curatorial role, Adele also lectures in art history at the National University of Singapore.

Myle Yan Tay (Jury)

Myle Yan Tay is a writer of plays, fiction, essays, comic books, and reviews (not necessarily in that order.) His novel, catskull, was published by Ethos Books and won "Book of the Year" and "Best Literary Work" at the Singapore Book Publishing Awards and was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize. His plays, Brown Boys Don't Tell Jokes and Statement Piece were staged by Checkpoint Theatre; Brown Boys Don't Tell Jokes was nominated for 4 Straits Times Life! Theatre Awards, including "Best Production" and "Best Script." He co-hosts Comic Sans, produced by Andas Productions, an award-winning podcast about comics for those who are sans knowledge. He is an Associate Artist at Checkpoint Theatre and you can find more of his work at myleyantay.com.

Tan Shou Chen (Jury)

Tan Shou Chen is a recognised theatremaker from Singapore – he is an actor and a director. Shou Chen has created or performed in works that have been seen in the UK, Thailand, France, China, Portugal and Singapore. Shou Chen works regularly with new writing across all stages, from conception to production. www.shouchen.net.

Jo Tan (Game Master)

Jo Tan is an award-winning actor and/or playwright, but most often ‘and’, as seen in her multi-accoladed plays like King, Forked, and Session Zero. She has a somewhat international CV, with Forked and King touring the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as well as being commissioned for the Sydney Fringe Festival, and Por Por’s Big Fat Surprise Wedding co-headlining Adelaide’s OzAsia Festival. King - with its first two iterations both produced by T:>Works - won her both the Best Original Script and Best Actress titles at the Life! Theatre Awards, before being nominated for the Popcorn Writing Awards in Edinburgh this year. Jo also co-created Dungeons and Distractions with Edward Choy - a live Dungeons and Dragons game with inflatable dice and fight choreography!

Competition Rules and Regulations

1. The 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2025 is open to all Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents and other residents living in Singapore for at least a year (as of 1 January 2025), except full-time employees, officers and representatives of the organiser and sponsors as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members of the employee.

2. There are two categories opened to aspiring playwrights: Youth (15 - 18 years) and Open (19 years and above), age as of 1 January 2025.

3. Participants will be required to complete at least a short play of 10 - 20 minutes (between 8 - 15 single-spaced pages) in the English language. They may use other languages but it should be kept to a minimum with translations provided / footnoted. All completed scripts must be single-authored; no joint-authored scripts will be accepted.

4. Participants will be provided with a template for submission to be used only as a guide. They are welcome to submit their scripts in a format they feel would aid clarity and understanding of the story and in the structure of the digital platforms and devices employed (if any).

5. Participants will be given creative stimuli at regular intervals within the 24-hour period. These stimuli may be in the form of objects, places, snatches of dialogue, phrases and/or actions, which the participants must incorporate into their scripts. The stimuli must be utilised in its original form (e.g. no change of tense, no extrapolation, etc). The stimuli will be delivered to the participants at specified times. Participants should note that the creative integration of the stimuli will be the main consideration in the judging of their works. Should they omit any of the stimuli, their scripts will be penalised accordingly.

6. At designated periods during the 24-hour period, participants may request to speak to mentors/judges to bounce ideas. This mentoring process was pioneered in 2020 in the first digital edition of the competition.

7. A complete script must be submitted to the organiser by 11am on 16 November 2025. Participants who fail to submit on time or who submit an incomplete script will also be disqualified. After submission, no amendments or changes to the scripts will be allowed.

8. Entries should not be concurrently submitted for other competitions, publications or broadcast until the announcement or broadcast of the results of the 24-Hour Playwriting Competition.

9. Winners will be notified via email. The judging panel’s decision is final. The panel reserves the right not to award any or all of the advertised prizes. No correspondence regarding the judging of the entries will be entertained at any time.

10. The winning scripts stand to be developed by T:>Works as a performance-ready script, which could also be digitalised/hybrid.

11. The organiser, partners, and sponsors will not be responsible for any injuries, deaths, accidents, illnesses or other loss or damage suffered by the participants during the course of the Competition. All participants are required to sign an indemnity form prior to the Competition. The indemnity form will include Competition’s security and safety measures and venue use policy concerning food and beverage consumption, electricity use, and movement in the National Gallery Singapore among others, of which a participant may be disqualified from the Competition in case of transgression.

12. Participation is confirmed only upon receipt of full reservation payment. The reservation fee is strictly non-refundable and non-transferable under any circumstances.

13. TheatreWorks (Singapore) Ltd will have the first right of refusal for the publishing, public reading, and full production of all award-winning entries for two years. Should TheatreWorks (S) Ltd decide to publish the winning scripts, National Gallery Singapore will be given the prior right to review the content for final approval before publication. The copyright of the scripts will remain with the respective playwrights. However, the following acknowledgement: “This work was developed from T:>Works 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2025 in partnership with National Gallery Singapore.” should be included in all future use of the script in any form.

14. Rules and Regulations are subject to change at the discretion of the organiser and partners.

Competition Terms and Conditions

By completing the reservation, I agree to the collection, use and/or disclosure of my personal data and information for the purpose of administering and managing my registration for the 24-Hour Playwriting Competition 2025 including having my photographs and videos taken by T:>Works and National Gallery Singapore, as well as others on behalf of T:>Works and National Gallery Singapore during this event or use in promotional materials, publications or media including social media and other related purposes.

_{All information is correct at time of publishing but may be subject to change without prior notice.}

_{The Organiser reserves the right to amend the above without prior notice. In the event of any dispute, the Organiser's decision is final.}

Prizes (For Both Youth and Open Categories)

• First Prize: S$350
• Second Prize: S$250
• Third Prize: S$150

Selected winning scripts will be developed and staged through a mentoring programme with established directors, actors, and dramaturgs, culminating at a Dramatised Reading.

Maximum Capacity

• Total 100 pax.

Indemnity Forms

• Kindly note all participants are required to sign an indemnity form prior to the Competition.

Wheelchair Users / Mobility Advisory

• All areas of the Gallery that participants will access during the competition are wheelchair accessible.
• Please contact us (details below) to indicate mobility needs and assistance.

Contact for Enquiries



• For any enquiries including group bookings, please contact Jeffrey Kang at +65 6737 7213 or [email protected].