The aims of the festival are to generate original South African theatre works, to provide a platform for these works to reach the attention of theatre producers, and to work towards full-scale productions of the winning plays.
The festivals have been a resounding success in previous years with most of the winning scripts going on to full scale productions at a variety of theatres and festivals, both locally and internationally. Winning plays include "Salaam Stories" by Ashraf Johaardien, "Bungi Writing Finals" by Finuala Dowling, Guy Willoughby's "Church Full of Light", and Mike van Graan's "Green Man Flashing" and "Two to Tango". More recent winners Kobus Moolman's "Stone Angel" and Nicholas Spagnoletti's "London Road" are still enjoying runs on the local circuit.
The winning scripts in each region - Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban - are re-read in the national final and are up for a grand prize of R30 000.
