Design Competition
Showcase your scenic, lighting, properties, costume, or special designs in this hybrid competition, with virtual and on-site entries welcome during AACTFest 2025. Open to AACT members, with cash prizes for top designs.
2025 Design Competition
In conjunction with AACTFest 2025
Pre-Festival
National Festival
AACTFest Cycle
Hybrid Model Opens Door to Opportunity
The AACT 2025 Design Competition has gone hybrid, allowing entries to be displayed and adjudicated either virtually or on-site during AACTFest 2025 in Des Moines, Iowa, next June.
For those designers whose busy schedules or limited budgets preclude shipping design displays to Des Moines or travel to AACTFest 2025 next June, virtual entries are welcome. Preliminary plans call for a kiosk or similar showcase for attendee viewing.
Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to showcase your best design work and possibly take home a cash award.
Photo: Costume Designs by Katherine Wood for The King and I, produced at St George Musical Theatre, were part of the 2019 Design Competition at AACTFest 2019 in Gettysburg, PA.
Entry Categories
The five Design Competition categories include Scenic, Lighting, Properties, Costume, and Special Design. Entries must be the work of an AACT Individual Member or be a design used for a production staged by an AACT Organizational Member. Designs must be from productions staged between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2025.
Guidelines (PDF)
Guidelines for Virtual Entry | Guidelines for On-Site Entry
Design Competition Entry Fees
Onsite Display Entry Fee:
Free with AACT Registration. Additional Entries are $25 per entry.
Virtual Entry Fee: $50
The AACT 2025 National Design Competition showcases the best of community theatre in this country. It is an opportunity for your theatre and designers to shine. AACT-member theatres and their designers enter designs for projects. There will be five design categories: Scenic, Lighting, Properties, Costume, and Special Design. Cash prizes for top designs in each category.
Plan Now
It’s not too early to begin collecting sketches, photos, plans, and other materials that can be used in your entry.
Entry forms will be available here soon; deadline for submitting the form will be May 19, 2025.
Space allocation for in-person displays is limited, and entries will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Awards
AACT will award a $300 prize to the design chosen as Outstanding Overall Design. Awards will be given at the discretion of the adjudicators. Awards will be presented to the combined pool of On-Site and Virtual entries. Competition adjudicators also have the option of awarding prizes of $100 for Outstanding Design in each of the five categories.