The University of Lethbridge has awarded three students for their playwriting skills. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

U of L students win awards for playwriting

Mar 26, 2025 | 2:40 PM

The University of Lethbridge (U of L) is honouring a trio of students for coming up with compelling scripts for plays.

The annual Play Right Prize awards $2,500 in cash prizes to students and supports their professional development in playwriting.

Drama (Performance) student Carter Popielarz won the first place $1,500 prize for his story, Honk If You’re Lonely.

It is described by the university as a generous character study of friendship between two older men. Popielaez says he was intrigued by what it means to leave old lives behind, particularly later in life, exploring themes of change and regret.

Second place, and a grant of $750, went to English student Levi Mason.

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His play, God is a Black Hole, sees three childhood friends meet at the edge of the apocalypse, confronting their choices and regrets as they seek validation from their found family.

“How could I make something about existentialism, nihilism and the end of the world and make it something that people actually want to read and watch? Despite the heaviness of the themes in this play, I actually find it quite joyful in a lot of ways,” Mason says.

Maddie McKee won $250 for coming in at third place.

Her absurdist horror show, Create, follows a pregnant woman struggling to find inspiration to give birth.

“I am very proud of this play and honoured that it has won third place,” says McKee. “What started out as a play to put my artistic frustrations into words has bloomed into something deeper, darker, realer, and oh so hard to look away from. There is something so morbid about how the body changes when a new being starts to emerge from within it.”

The winners of this year’s competition were recognized at a gala earlier this month.

You can learn more about the contest winners and their plays on the University of Lethbridge website.

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