In the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival’s inaugural Emerging Playwright Awards held last year, it was a University of Michigan student’s comedic farce set in the snowy hills of Nantucket that won over judges and audiences alike.

The young playwright will be returning to Beckwith Theatre next month to defend his title against two other fledgling writers during the festival’s second annual contest.

The judging panel for this year’s competition announced their selection of the best three scripts late last week. Actors from the South Bend Civic Theatre, Southwestern Michigan College and the Beckwith Theatre Company will perform public readings of the top plays on April 17, 18 and 19, which will be free and open to the public. As with last year, attendees will be asked to judge the play at the end of the reading.

Open to playwrights living in Michigan and Northern Indiana between the ages of 18-30 years old, this year’s competition offers $2,200 in prize money to the top placers. Organizers received 13 script submissions this year, said event organizer and judge Rich Frantz.

“The judging was really close this year,” Frantz said. “The top three were just points within each other. The audience reaction will have a lot to do with who wins this year.”

The judges said they were impressed by the diversity of the finalists this year, which should offer a different experience for the people who attended last year’s readings, Franz said.

The organizers encourage people to come out and participate in the readings next month.

“A lot of people think of readings as being dull affairs, but they allow you to use your imagination more than a traditional stage play would,” Franz said. “The actors perform their characters just like they do in costume.”

The finalists for this year’s competition are:

• Elizabeth Frankel of Ann Arbor

“A German Party”

Friday, April 17, 7:30 p.m.

It is New Year’s Eve 1932, one month before Hitler is appointed Chancellor. Seven childhood friends meet for a reunion party after months of being apart. Quietly and awkwardly aware of the changing political climate, they remain desperate to cling to the friendships they have known for so long. It is only after the announcement of who is joining the Nazi Party, and who is not, that these childhood ties are put to the test.

Presented by the South Bend Civic Theatre

• Graham Techler of Ann Arbor (2014 Winner)

“Moxie”

Saturday, April 18, 7:30 p.m.

Legendary, reclusive, comparative literature professor Joens Hjort has retired.  A group of students from Bates College sends him a, mostly-joking, invitation to spend the weekend before his official retirement party with them on the coast of Maine. Miraculously, he accepts and joins the group at the vacation home of one of the students.  The group intends on celebrating the distinguished old man’s life and career.  However, they soon discover that Hjort, who came of age during the 1960s, and hasn’t cut loose in 30 years, may be ready to party ‘harder’ than they possibly can. The “inspirational” truths they want him to share from the other side of a full life may be a little too real for them to handle. As Hjort begins to tear down the students’ naive perspectives, and pit them against each other, tensions rise to the surface and the weekend getaway turns into an uncomfortable, boozy, flaming disaster.

Presented by the Beckwith Theatre Company

• Gregory Strasser of Bloomfield Hills

“Atlanta”

Sunday, April 19, 2:30 p.m.

Miles outside the last standing city in the United States, a group of people have hidden away in an abandoned gas station to defend themselves from the ravenous disease that has swept across the world.  The resources are low and tensions run high as a family fights to maintain its structure, unlikely alliances are formed, and frustrations mount to a breaking point.  Trapped, isolated, and incensed, “Atlanta” is biting drama that challenges what a family is and at what lengths people will go to preserve an ideal.

Awards for this year’s competition are: first place — The Don and Dorothy Frantz Memorial Award; $1500, second place — The Karen Pugh Memorial Award; $500, and third place – The Warren and Lillian Walshleger Memorial Award; $250. The top prize winner will also receive a second reading of their script that will take place during the Dogwood Festival, on May 11.

The scripts are all intended for mature audiences, as strong language and adult themes may be used.