Garrett Heater is an educator, actor, and musician who teaches music in the Oswego City School District, Oswego, NY. He has performed, directed, and done production work for numerous schools and theatre companies in central New York. Mr. Heater incorporated The Covey Theatre Company where he is artistic director and was winner in 2010, of the Syracuse Area Live Theatre (SALT) Award for Best Actor in a Play (Katurian in "The Pillowman"). He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in music from Syracuse University.

Aoise Stratford, a resident of Ithaca, NY, was born in England and reared in Australia. Her work has been produced in Canada, Austria, Italy, Australia, Belgium, England, and throughout the U.S. She is a member of the Dramatists' Guild and the recipient of several awards including the Hudson River Classics New Play Award, the Yukon Pacific Playwright Award, and the Alan Minieri Award. Coincidentally, Ms Stratford was the winner of the first Gloria Peter Competition for her play "Henry's Wives" that was performed at the Morgan Opera House in 2007 and was produced last year at a theatre festival in Saltzberg, Austria.

As a stipulation of the competition, the co-winning plays will be produced at the Morgan Opera House. "Lizzie Borden Took an Axe" is scheduled to be performed November 11 and 12, 2011 and will be directed by Siouxsie G. Easter, professor of theatre at Wells College. "The Unfortunates", a one-woman play, is an intimate ghost story about a prostitute in 1880's England and one of the world's most notorious criminals. It will be produced in 2012.

The friends and family of Ms Peter -a playwright, actress, and lover of history- established a fund to underwrite the GABP Playwright Competition to honor her memory and to encourage the writing and production of theatre art. The winners of previous prizes are Aoise Stratford, Gail Felker, Michael Vukadinovich, and William Duncan.