Playwright Elyse Singer has been awarded first prize in an international competition for original plays about science and technology sponsored by UC Santa Barbara’s Professional Artists Lab (PAL) and the California NanoSystems Institute.

Singer will receive $10,000 for her play, “Frequency Hopping,” which is based on a true story, at an awards ceremony next year that will coincide with the premiere of the play at the prestigious 3-Legged Dog Art and Technology Center, a cutting-edge theater group in New York City. The prize money was donated.

The competition’s next round is already on, with details available at <www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/stage/about/poster.pdf>. The entry deadline is Dec. 31, 2007.

Nearly 175 plays from a dozen countries competed in UCSB’s second Scientists, Technologists, and Artists Generating Exploration (STAGE) contest.

As was the case in the first two competitions, the winner of the new round will not only receive a prize but also “opportunities for developing and promoting the winning script,” said Nancy Kawalek, director of PAL.