National Writing Competition Launched

Eyes of Babylon Producers Launch National Writing Competition

Jennilyn Merten - Producer, Eyes of Babylon

The producers of The Eyes of Babylon have launched a national writing contest to promote the play’s Off-Broadway run, June 14th–July 3rd, 2011 in NYC

The Eyes of Babylon presents the true story of playwright and performer Jeff Key, who joined the Marines in 2001 as a 34-year-old gay man. Key transforms the pages of
his Iraq journal into a stunning, raw, funny and indelible solo performance about going to battle, being gay in the military, and finding peace when you are at war with yourself.

Actor Jeff Key

CONTEST THEMES
With this contest, we hope to to further explore the play’s themes of war, the memory of war, and our individual and collective forgetfulness about being at war. We hope to start a broad social dialogue about how art is both a celebration and a critique of our citizenship, patriotism, love of country, and allegiance to values.

Jeff Key and President Clinton

The play is as much about the process of searching for answers as finding answers themselves, and contest entries should consider the battles we wage both internally and externally, and the role of writing, creativity, and art in the fight for peace, change, and self-examination.

DRAMA: Play or Screenplay (up to 15 pages)
Judge: Del Shores

PROSE: Fiction/Nonfiction (up to 15 pages)
Judge: Aimee Bender

POETRY: 1—3 poems (up to 8 pages)
Judge: Timothy Donnelly

All submissions must be previously unpublished.

PRIZES:
GRAND PRIZE $1000 (one overall winner) PLUS
—Publication on The Eyes of Babylon website
—Trip to New York City to meet Jeff Key
—Read for a New York audience of the play
—Swag bag and art/memorabilia from the play

1st PRIZE: $500 (1 per genre) & 2nd PRIZE: $200 (1 per genre)
plus:
—Publication on The Eyes of Babylon website
—Two tickets to the play
—Swag bag and art/memorabilia from the play

Honorable Mention (2 per genre)
—Two tickets to the play
—Swag bag and art/memorabilia from the play

Submission deadline is June 14th.
Entry fee is $15. For more details, submission guidelines, and to submit electronically, please go to:
http://www.theeyesofbabylon.com/writing-contest/