In the Summer of 2020 as the CoViD19 pandemic revealed itself to be far more tenacious and deadly than anyone had wanted to consider, the first call for entries was put out inviting all American writers regardless of country of residence to submit a monologue to the Hear Me Out New American Monologue Competition & Festival. The inaugural festival theme was announced as “Me & My Masks’ and writers were encouraged to indulge the most liberal interpretation of the topic, specifically allowing for all sorts of mask, hidden and visible, literal and figurative. Within the first two weeks of the open submission period it was clear that the theme had resonated broadly. And by the competition deadline of August 15th nearly 400 writers from 43 U.S. States and countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and as far away as New Zealand had submitted their take on this provocative prompt. 60 judges formed the National Judges Circle to complete the first round of evaluations.

Monologues were given scores on the following criteria: Clever Use of Theme, Character Development, Ear for Authentic Speech, Camouflage of Exposition, Gripping Story and Dramatic Structure. Every entry was read and scored by at least 2 judges, sometimes 3. Then the 12 top scoring entries were sent to our Finalist Judges Julie Jensen, Kia Corthron, Kate Snodgrass, Doug Wright and Gary Garrison for the final determination of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes as well as the designation of the August van der Becq Special Prize for Daring, given to the monologue that takes the boldest risk either in its subject matter or construction. Each year the Competition Call for Entries is announced on Mother’s Day and on Labor Day the Finalists’ monologues are performed and the top prize winners announced by our Finalist Judges. Tickets on sale now.