To encourage the young writers of North Carolina, Burning Coal will hold its annual festival of new plays, written by students from 6th grade to 12th grade, including: "Chicken Fights" by Pranav Gadiraju (Young Writer's Institute), "Man Attempts to Peel an Orange" by Sam Harris (Broughton High School), "Silver Lining" by Abigail Celoria (North Raleigh Christian Academy), "Elevated Egos" by Spencer Fitzgerald, Catherine Shamel, and Keetyn Weeks (Moore Square Magnet Middle School), and "Governor Dump by Vivek Indlamuri (Young Writer's Institute).

This year's performance is entirely online, performed via Zoom and the Burning Coal Twitch stream.