Wayfare magazine announces its third annual short play competition!
We are seeking original short plays that speak to faith and spirituality.
Short: This call is specifically for short, 10-minute plays (around 10 pages of script).
Original: Your voice and your story are important to our community! We love seeing new and diverse voices from a variety of cultures and faith traditions, and we love to be surprised by both story and form.
Spiritual: Wayfare was founded by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we welcome stories rooted in that tradition, though not necessarily in subject or focus. We also aim to address spirituality in a way that can also be appreciated across broad religious traditions. As our thirteenth Article of Faith says, “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”
Note: “Spiritual” does not necessarily mean “devotional.” We want plays that engage with spirituality in new and interesting ways, and that work to inspire by some subtle or unexpected means.
Some examples of previous finalists:
Fireflies: https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/fireflies
Once I was a Laurel Advisor: https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/once-i-was-a-laurel-advisor
A Burning in the Bosom: https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/a-burning-in-the-bosom
Prizes
1st: $100, 2nd: $50, 3rd: $50. The first prize winner will also have the chance to have their play performed in a public reading.
Reading Period and Judging
This form will close to submissions at 11:59 pm on August 1st, 2026. Winners will be notified by the end of August, and the winning submissions will be published in the month of September.
Guidelines:
Format: Please submit your play as a Google Doc with permissions set to “anyone with the link can view.”
Playwrights may submit up to three short plays.
Simultaneous submissions are OK.
We will accept plays that have been previously published and/or performed in small, limited venues.
Judging will be blind at all stages. Playwrights should remove identifying information from their submissions.
Plays must be original.
Plays must not be AI-generated in part or in whole.
Jeanine Bee is the fiction editor for Wayfare magazine.
Art by Honoré Daumier.
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