The Sitcom Mission
Contest · 2027Prestige 56/100
Twenty pounds, open to anyone including produced writers, and your sitcom performed by professional actors.
Deadlines & fees
Closed for this cycle
The 2026 round closed at 11:59pm on Sunday 3 May 2026 and the competition returns in early 2027, with no date yet published. The recent pattern is consistent: across 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 the deadline has fallen on the last Sunday of April or the first Sunday of May at 11:59pm, with finalists in June and showcases in June and July. The fee rose from 20 to the current level between 2024 and 2025 and has held since. One caveat on calling it annual: the organisers' own previous-years list skips 2019, 2021 and 2022, and the 2020 finalists were never staged in a theatre because of the pandemic, so it has run annually since 2023 but has missed years before.
Dates and fees checked against the official site 9 Aug 2026.
Key facts
- Formats
- TV Pilot
- Page limit
- 20 pages
- Eligibility
- Open worldwide
- Required materials
- A 15-minute sitcom script of no more than 20 pages, legibly typed and formatted as a TV script · Uploaded to the Sitcom Mission website · Read blind, so personal details are separated from the script
The competition is open to anyone, and unusually it says so in exactly those words. Professional and produced writers are explicitly eligible. Scripts must be written primarily in English, be the entrant's original work, and run to no more than 20 pages formatted as a TV script for a 15-minute sitcom. The script must be self-contained but show series potential, with the organisers looking for sitcoms that could stretch to a minimum of six episodes. Sketches are not accepted, and a 30-minute script cannot be entered even as its first half. Co-written scripts and writing teams are allowed. There is no limit on the number of entries, each at its own fee. All scripts are read blind of any personal details. Winners agree to take part in post-competition publicity.
Prizes
No cash prize, and the rules define the prize itself as presentation at the industry showcase, which must be taken as stated and cannot be deferred or transferred. What you get instead is development and a room: rehearsed readings by professional actors, a public showcase, and for four scripts a smaller industry showcase in front of comedy commissioners from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Comedy Central and Sky, plus producers, agents and directors. Showcases are staged in London and travel is an unpublished cost. RIGHTS ARE CLEAN AND EXPLICIT: entrants retain copyright in their entries, with no option, first refusal, exclusivity or assignment anywhere in the rules, and personal details are never published or shared without permission.
Judging
Read blind by a team of readers, with judges named retrospectively rather than in advance. Previous judges include Lucy Lumsden of Yellow Door Productions, Tilusha Ghelani of Sky, Morwenna Gordon of Expectation, Tanya Qureshi of the BBC, Shane Allen of Boffola, Saskia Schuster of Fulwell 73 and the writer Andy Hamilton. A longlist of up to six scripts receives producer notes and at least a week to rewrite, repeating until the producers are satisfied with the standard, then a public showcase precedes selection of four scripts for the industry showcase. Governed by the law of England and Wales.
The PreList verdict
Twenty pounds, open to absolutely anyone including produced writers, and if you make the longlist your sitcom is performed by professional actors in front of an audience. Four scripts then go to an industry showcase watched by comedy commissioners from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Comedy Central and Sky. For the money, there is nothing else in Britain that puts a comedy script in front of that room. Running since 2010, with around 10,000 scripts entered.
The rights position is one of the cleanest we have seen: entrants retain copyright, and there is no option, first refusal, exclusivity or assignment anywhere in the rules. The organisers also commit never to publish or share your personal details. Scripts are read blind.
Two corrections to how this is usually described. There is no cash prize at all, and the rules are explicit that the prize is the industry showcase itself. And the celebrated feedback is not included with every entry: it goes to a longlist of up to six writers a year, who then get producer notes and at least a week to rewrite, repeating until the producers are happy. That is genuinely generous development for the six, and nothing for everyone else at the base fee. Note too that paid Bronze, Silver and Gold packages carrying pre-entry feedback are still advertised on two of their pages but absent from the entry page, so whether they ran this cycle is unclear. It returns in early 2027.
Dylian Salvatore, Founder of The PreList · Updated 9 Aug 2026
Frequently asked questions
Is feedback included?
Only for the longlist. Up to six writers a year receive producer notes and at least a week to rewrite, a process that repeats until the producers are satisfied. Everyone else gets nothing at the base entry fee. Paid packages offering pre-entry feedback are still advertised on two pages but do not appear on the entry page.
Is there prize money?
No. The rules define the prize as presentation at the industry showcase, which must be taken as stated and cannot be deferred or transferred. The value is the rehearsed reading, the public showcase and the room of commissioners, not cash.
Can produced writers enter?
Yes, explicitly. The rules state the competition is open to anyone and that professional and produced writers are eligible. Co-written scripts and writing teams are allowed, and there is no limit on entries.
Do they take any rights?
No. Entrants retain copyright in their entries, and there is no option, first refusal, exclusivity or assignment clause anywhere in the rules. Personal details are never published or provided to anyone without permission, and scripts are read blind.
Is your script right for The Sitcom Mission?
Upload your screenplay and The PreList scores how well it fits this contest: genre, format, eligibility and readiness, before you spend anything.
Similar competitions
TrackingB Script Contests
Contest · 2026
Closed for this cycle
The 2026 TV contest closed on 9 March with results due by 30 August (fees ran $99 to $119). A 2026 feature cycle has not been announced; previous feature contests opened between April and June.
Hollywood tracking board contests built on rep signings: industry reads instead of cash prizes.
FeatureTV PilotActionAdventure+18
Checked 25 days ago
Virginia Screenwriting Competition
Contest · 2026
Closed for this cycle
The 2026 round opened on 6 April and closed on 25 May 2026 at 11:59pm Eastern, with winners announced at the Virginia Film Festival in October. This has one of the most predictable calendars we have found: across four consecutive cycles the closing date has fallen on US Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, every single year, with entries opening in early April in three of those four. No extensions are ever granted. One small note for verification: only the 2026 cycle published a timezone; earlier years stated 11:59pm with no zone.
Free to enter, 1,000 dollars to each of three winners, and a written evaluation of every single entry.
FeatureTV Pilot
Checked today
Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting
Contest · 2026
Closed for this cycle
The 2026-27 cycle is under way and both public entry windows have already closed, each filling on capacity ahead of its published deadline. The Black List portal opened 8 June 2026 and shut around 19 June on its 2,500 cap, well before the 6 July date the Academy had published; the Writers Guild Foundation portal opened 22 June and filled its 2,000 places before its 20 July deadline. Fellows are awarded in spring 2027. There is no stable annual pattern to plan around: under the old open-entry model the contest opened in January or February with a March to May ladder, while the two cycles under the partner model opened in mid-May 2025 and early June 2026. The practical advice is to watch for the Academy's partner announcement press release, which came on 8 June for this cycle, and enter the same week. Waiting for the published deadline is how people miss it.
The Academy's flagship feature-screenplay fellowship: five US$35,000 awards for emerging writers.
FeatureActionAdventure+18
Checked today
Nipkow Programm
Fellowship · 2026
Closed for this cycle
The last round closed on 5 January 2026 at 11pm Berlin time, for residencies scheduled between 1 June and 30 November 2026, and no new window has been published. The cycle before closed on 17 February 2025 for the equivalent 2025 window. Note the deadline moved by around six weeks between those two cycles, so expect a single annual round closing in the northern winter rather than a repeating date. Also be aware the live page still carries stale 2025 text alongside the 2026 conditions.
A Berlin residency paying 1,500 euro a month, out of which you fund your own flights and Berlin rent.
Feature
Checked today
NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship
Fellowship · 2027
4 Dec 2026
Free to enter, and it gives you a paid evaluation for nothing. 20,000 dollars each to three writers.
FeatureTV Pilot
Checked today
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship: Playwriting and Screenwriting
Fellowship · 2028
Closed for this cycle
Playwriting and Screenwriting is part of the 2028 award cycle, with applications opening in autumn 2027, roughly fourteen months away. Exact dates are not yet published. For scale, the last time this discipline ran, applications opened at 10am Eastern on 8 October 2024 and closed at 5pm Eastern on 17 December 2024, with notifications the following summer. The cycle typically runs from autumn into early winter with decisions by mid-summer.
Eight thousand dollars, unrestricted, no project attached. Screenwriting next opens in autumn 2027.
FeatureTV Pilot
Checked today