Competition for the best contemporary drama
The independent regional cultural organization Heartefact, based in Belgrade, is announcing the 14th Compentition for the best contemporary full-length theatre play in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian, Macedonian, or Montenegrin.
Authors residing in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, North Macedonia, and Serbia are eligible to participate in the competition.
The winner will receive a monetary award of 600,000 RSD, which also includes the purchase of performance rights for the premiere production of the winning play by Heartefact in cooperation with a regional theater. Heartefact will also participate in the promotion of the most successful texts from the competition.
Since 2009, Heartefact has been dedicated to creating and strengthening critical awareness, aiming to actively participate in the creation of an inclusive and open society through creative and artistic forms. Born out of the desire to provide space for new authors to work and act, the competition for contemporary engaged drama texts encourages dialogue on important social topics related to human rights, freedom of speech, collective memory, and responsibility.
Submission deadline: October 15, 2025
Jury decision announcement: December 2025
CRITERIA
The jury’s main criteria for decision-making will be artistic value and social engagement.
Texts that offer a deeper understanding of the world we live in, promote the idea of humanity, resist violence, intolerance, and discrimination based on any grounds will be considered as potential candidates for the award. The jury will appreciate the originality, contemporary form, and the courage of young authors to confront some of the numerous problems of our society through dramatic form.
Only original, unpublished, and unperformed works are eligible for the competition.
Some of the previous competition winners’ texts have become well-known plays, such as Workers Die Singing/Radnici umiru pevajući by Olga Dimitrijević, Finger/Prst by Doruntina Basha, Why is her fault? It’s not her fault./Šta je ona kriva nije ništa ona kriva by Vesna Perić, Wake Me up when I’m Done/Probudi me kada završim by Mirza Skenderagić, This One Will be Different/Ovaj će biti drugačiji by Staša Bajac, Muscatles can Survive Anything/Muškatle mogu preživeti sve by Iva Brdar, The Last Afterparty/Poslednji afterparti by Dino Pešut, Bordel Eden by Benjamin Bajramović, Window/Prozor by Katarina Nikolić, The Purchase of Milk/Otkup mlijeka by Davor Špišić, The Woman Ties a Ponytail/Žena veže rep by Marija Rakočević,
Throw Her, Putin, and Be Precise/Baci je, Putine i budi precizan by Mirza Skenderagić…
APPLICATION
The application for the competition is done electronically. An unsigned version of the text in PDF format, with the play’s password, should be submitted at this link. To ensure anonymity, the PDF document must not contain any contact or author’s name, or anything that could reveal the identity, only the play’s title and password.
Additionally, the following information needs to be filled out separately in the form at this link and it has to contain the author’s full name, play title, play password, and email.
JURY MEMBERS:
The jury members of the Heartefact competition are prominent regional experts in the field of culture:
Nejra Babić Halvadžija, playwright and dramaturge from Sarajevo
Graduated in dramaturgy from the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. Since 2016, she has worked as a dramaturge at SARTR. Author of several plays, including “Bullying Collection,” “A Suitcase Too Red to Be a Suitcase,” “We’re Still Alive,” and “I Was Squeezing Beetroot”, which inspired the contemporary opera “Three Colors of Beetroot” by composer Irena Popović Dragović.
Gordana Goncić, dramaturge and acting director of Atelje 212 Theatre in Belgrade
Graduated in dramaturgy from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. Since 1994, she has worked as the resident dramaturge at Atelje 212. She was also the acting director of the Belgrade Cultural Center and deputy secretary for culture of the City of Belgrade. She has worked on over 60 productions and is a member of the boards of the October Salon and BELEF.
Biljana Srbljanović, playwright and professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade
A founding member of Heartefact, previously serving as Chair of the Board, collaborator on theater and other programs, and since 2017 a permanent team member. She graduated in dramaturgy and now serves as a professor and head of the Department of Dramaturgy. Author of over 10 plays and hundreds of articles and essays published in both local and international media.
During the competition and until the decision is made, Heartefact will not provide information about the work of the jury or the placement of individual texts. The authors are kindly requested to respect this and other competition rules.
For any additional questions regarding the competition, you can contact us at the email address [email protected] with the subject line “Competition.”