The Autism Scene is dedicated to promoting the creation and inclusion of explicitly autistic characters in kids pop culture

THE 2026

AuSPEC SCRIPT

COMPETITION

The Autism Scene will be holding a kids animated series spec script competition starting in December 2025, culminating in the AuSPEC AWARDS ceremony on April 2, 2026 in Burbank. Category winners will win meetings with animation executives, showrunners, and/or managers, including Gersh, Gotham, Verve, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Lego Friends, Hello Kitty, Monster High, Warner Bros. Animation, Nickelodeon, and more! The AuSPEC AWARDS will culminate in a Grand Prize of $5,000. Each script should be an episode of a recent animated show, and have at least one series regular meaningfully interacting with an explicitly autistic character. Autistic characters should be in every type of show — comedy, drama, sci-fi, romance, YA, fantasy, everything! — and the AuSPEC AWARDS will show the industry how it’s done!

  • The Autism Scene is pleased to invite you to submit to the 2026 AuSPEC SCRIPT COMPETITION. We are looking for submissions of spec scripts for existing kids animation shows. The only expectation is that each script will include a series regular meaningfully interacting with an explicitly autistic character. A great submission will feel like it could be a real episode of the animated show you choose — in tone, characterization and format.

  • For the money and prizes! Each category winner will get a meeting with an executive, manager, agent or showrunner who has read their script. These will include folks from Gersh, Nickelodeon, The Gotham Group, etc. We will do our best to match the winners with an appropriate meeting. AND ALSO— We will hold an AuSPEC AWARDS Ceremony where three scripts will have a staged reading with professional Hollywood VO talent, which should be pretty cool. And the grand prize winner will be awarded $5,000! Sweet!

  • Any human person, really. We hope this will provide an opportunity for people new to animation to get an introduction, and to help working animation writers get to the next level. The awarding team is comprised of television animation show runners, writers, executives and autism consultants.

  • An average kids television animation script will be for an 11-minute segment. Well-known shows or shows currently in production are more likely to help your ideas and writing come across quickly and clearly in a competition like this. All submissions should include the following:

    • A log line or brief summary of the episode

    • A sentence about the autistic character, and

    • A pdf of your script submission. 

    • A $25 submission fee.

    Please DO NOT include your name on your script or in the title of the PDF, to help us be as unbiased as possible. 

  • Once the competition opens to submissions in December 2025, you will be able to submit through the button below. And if you have any trouble with that, you can always email us at AuSPEC2026@TheAutismScene.org.

    The submission fee can be covered by making a $25 donation to The Autism Scene, which you can make by following the submission button below. Funds raised will be used to defray costs of running the competition.

  • The submission period will open December 1, 2025. Entries are due by January 31, 2026. The awards will be announced on Thursday April 2, 2026.

  • Prize Categories

    • Grand Prize

    • Best preschool script

    • Best kids animation (@ages 8-11) script

    • Best musical script

    • Funniest script

    • Spookiest script

    • Cutest script

    • Kindest script

    • Best sci-fi script

    • Best adventure script

    • Best educational script

    • Best nonspeaking/nonverbal character

    • Best use of AAC device

    • Best explanation of autism

    • Best script by unrepresented writer

    • And more!

Submissions will Open in December 2025!

Authentically Creating Autistic Characters

Autism is historically underrepresented in pop culture. With increasing rates of autism (the CDC currently estimates 1 in 31), there is an increasing demand for autistic characters in our pop culture from both executives and audiences. But for the creatives in the middle, especially the neurotypical ones, it can feel like a daunting challenge. How can I fit an autistic character in my goofy animated show? Autistic people are in our world, so whether it’s a YA fantasy graphic novel, a family sitcom, a high-octane hospital drama, a post-apocalyptic zombie comic, or whatever -- authentic autistic characters belong there, too. The Autism Scene aims to gather autistic and neurotypical creators to successfully add autistic characters to pop culture, and how you can too!

About Us

If you’re writing an autistic character, its important to get to know some autistic people if you don’t already, beyond what you see through pop culture. Some of our nonspeaking friends have lent their voices to The Autism Scene through their blogs:

Advisory Group Member Alfonso Camacho’s Autism and Other Endeavors of the Heart

Friend of The Autism Scene Zora Oginar’s Being Zora

Zora’s friends at the Mouth to Hand Learning Center

Past Events

Sunday July 27, 2025 at 1pm

Marriott Marquis Room 11

San Diego Comic Con International

The (sometimes troubling) history of autistic characters in comic books, and how comics as a medium can foster a modern understanding of autism among its readers and creators.

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Interested in getting involved? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!