skip navigation | text only | accessibility | site map

The Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award
supported by VSA arts

for the best play written on the theme of disability

The Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, named after the founder of VSA arts is offered for the best student-written script that explores the human experience of living with a disability. The play must be produced and entered in the KCACTF and must comply with the guidelines for scripts entered in the KCACTF Michael Kanin Playwriting Program.

The winning playwright will receive a cash award of $2,500, membership in the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. and a fellowship to attend a prestigious playwriting program. The fellowship will include transportation, housing and per diem.

VSA arts is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1974 by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith. VSA arts is creating a society where people with disabilities can learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts. Nearly 5 million people with disabilities participate in VSA arts programs every year through a network of affiliates in 49 states and 64 countries worldwide.


The Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award Winners

2007
Samaritan, Mary Unser, Carnegie Mellon University

2nd Place - The Lazarus Syndrome, Bruce Ward, Boston University

2006 (co-winners)
Arts and Science, David Roby, Illinois State University
The Family Frost, Terry Davis, University of New Mexico

2005
Get Off
by Paul McCabe, Ithaca College

2004
Quid Pro Quo by Garrett Zuercher, Marquette University

2003
No award this year

2002
The Nature of the Nautilus
, by Ian Finley, University of Utah

2001
And David Danced by Jonathan Pope Evans, William Carey College

2000
A Simple Autumn
, Kevin Schneipp, Viterbo College, La Crosse, Wisconsin

1999
The Great Frozen Man
, Jeannine Saunders, Wichita State University, Kansas