TELEGRAPH OFFERS PRIZE FOR NEGLECTED DRAMAS

A prize play contest carried on by the New York Morning Telegraph offers amateur playwrights a chance to compete for a cash prize of $1,000, with the agreement that the winning play will be produced in New York at the expense of the Telegraph.

A jury composed of seven judges will select the best play among those offered, which may be on any subject, provided it is in dramatic prose. The contest is open to amateurs only--that is, to writers who have never had a play produced in New York.

The contest will close on August 7, when reading of the plays will stop. Mr. Raftery of the Telegraph says: "It should be something for the playwright to know that his or her play will be at least read and appraised. Many successful producers do not even employ a play reader. Their desks (many of them) are piled with dust-covered manuscripts that have never been read." It is the purpose of the contest to form a clearing house for neglected scripts.