It is time for budding playwrights to get their acts together the deadline for entry into an annual Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society (BMDS) competition is fast approaching.The tenth annual Famous for Fifteen Minutes festival takes place in September.The deadline for scripts is July 20, so there is still time for budding playwrights to put their pens to paper and get writing.The festival was conceived in 2000 as a means of offering original works for BMDS to perform.Professional playwright Tom Coash then told the BMDS drama committee of a theatre company in Philadelphia that performed in alleys and pathways in obscure parts of the city.The idea was expanded, with the help of committee members Kelvin Hastings-Smith and Phillip Jones, into the Famous For Fifteen Minutes playwriting festival. The three gentlemen went on to fine-tune the rules and regulations of the competition. The play should be an original, never before performed; be of no longer than 15 minutes in length and must not be a musical. Scripts entered into the competition are delivered to an anonymous reading committee who choose the six best.They are then performed onstage at the Daylesford Theatre, with the winner chosen by a theatre professional based purely on the writing not the acting, staging or direction.The first celebrity judge was Norm Foster, the prolific Canadian playwright and the most performed playwright in North America. The first winner of the festival was Marg Hammond.The winner receives the Golden Inkwell Award and $250.The trophy, designed by Julie Hastings-Smith, has pride of place today in BMDS’ trophy cabinet. The proceeds of the festival go to the BMDS Charitable Trust, which aims to promote the arts and encourage training and education in the performing arts.It is now a formidable player in the bursary and scholarship stakes for aspiring Bermuda students who wish to follow study/education in any aspect of the performing arts.Mr Coash will return to the Island as this year’s celebrity judge. Performance dates for Famous for Fifteen Minutes are September 22 through October 1, 2011.Useful website: www.bmds.bm