Deadline: November 18, 2026
Applications are open for the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund 2026. The Emerging Playwrights Fund is calling theatrical visionaries who are ready to push boundaries and captivate audiences through the intimate, limitless world of audio drama. This is storytelling without walls. Your words, world-class performers, and millions of listeners waiting to be transported.
They are seeking early-career theatrical writers who craft immersive fictional experiences that engage, entertain, and inspire. They value diverse perspectives, innovative approaches to form, and stories that harness the unique intimacy and immediacy of audio storytelling. Whether your work explores internal worlds through sound, creates vivid landscapes through language, or experiments with narrative structure—if it pushes boundaries and demands to be heard, they want it.
For this cycle, they are particularly interested in original audio dramas in the following genres:
- Action & Adventure
- including Mystery, Thrillers, Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
- Core Fiction
- including Contemporary Fiction, Romance, and Literary Companion Pieces
Benefits
- Audible will select up to five applicants to receive a fee of $25,000 each to write and develop an original audio play. In addition to the fee, Audible may provide the selected applicants with creative and logistical resources to assist each artist and project, including but not limited to: development and production fees, casting expertise and talent budget, access to Audible’s state-of-the-art studio and production equipment.
Eligibility
- Any applicant over the age of 18, resident in US or UK may submit an application.
- Employees or independent contractors, or immediate family members (spouses, domestic partners, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, and grandchildren) or those living in the same household of employees or independent contractors of Audible Inc., including any of its affiliates (collectively, “Audible”), or any entity involved in any aspect of the administration of the Fund may not submit a Script for consideration, unless it is determined by Audible in its sole discretion in accordance with Audible’s then current policies and procedures that no conflict of interest exists in connection with accepting the relevant submission for consideration.
Application
Submissions will be accepted until November 18, 2026 (11:59PM EST). To be considered as an applicant for a commission, submit the following:
- Playwright Application
- One full-length script for an original play (in English language only) that represents your voice (“Script”). Submitted as a pdf or word doc
- A professional biography (up to 300 words)
- A pitch or summary for an original audio play (Action & Adventure OR Core Fiction preferred)
For more information, visit Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund.
