Grand Prize Winner
40 Elephants by Kay Tuxford & E.S. Dahl
Kay’s an Arizonan who’s wandered west until she reached the ocean, peeling away her Northern Arizona University degree in Biology for a pen and paper.
A graduate of Chapman University’s Screenwriting MFA program, Kay co-created a one-on-one writing coach program through Writersstore.com. Also, just to say she did, she once baked 30 pies in 30 days.
Kay met Elizabeth Dahl in a writing group and they bonded over a mutual love of mimosas, pancakes, and history.
Knowing screenwriting was her life’s ambition, Elizabeth naturally attended
Georgia Institute of Technology, where she earned a B.S. in International Affairs and African Politics. . . . Things started making more sense when she moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A good Southerner, Elizabeth has a deep love of history, which writing allows her to indulge. She supports her screenwriting habit as a writer for the online magazine, The Manual.
Kay and Elizabeth continue to delve into forgotten corners of history and write about the amazing lives they uncover.
Runner Up
The Mother by Laura Bensick
Laura discovered her writer’s voice while attending Washington University in St. Louis through two quite different writing mediums. . . .
She penned dark, emotional plays, including an autobiographical drama about mental health issues in her family, and she embraced lighter fare as the school’s romance columnist. Her passion for storytelling led her to obtain a MFA in Writing for Screen & Television from the University of Southern California. Later, Laura was accepted into the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s TV Writers Program, was a semi-finalist for the 2015 Disney/ABC Writing Program, a finalist at the 2015 Austin Film Festival, a finalist for the 2016 Tracking Board Launch Pad Pilots Competition, and a quarterfinalist in the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards.
While working on a recent slew of darker pieces, Laura has balanced things out by giving dating advice to TV characters in her blog: DatingAdviceforTVCharacters.tumblr.com.
Finalists
40 Elephants by Kay Tuxford & E.S. Dahl
America’s Least Wanted by Ben Deeb & Graham Towers
Cartella by Brianna Janes
Franchise by Diana Wright
Hello, I Live Here by Dani Messerschmidt
History’s Greatest Monster by Jon Bershad
The Mother by Laura Bensick
Sorostitute by Michael Sorce
Widows by Laura Bensick
Wildcat by Sam Cooke & Hussain Pirani
Semifinalists
40 Elephants by Kay Tuxford & E.S. Dahl
America’s Least Wanted by Ben Deeb & Graham Towers
The Auteur by Jason Skorski & Matt McHugh
Better Call Saul – Domingo by Jared Ronin
Blackish – The N-Word by Justin Carter
Blackmarsh by Katherine DiSavino
Calamity Meadows by Ben Deeb & Graham Towers
Cartella by Brianna Janes
Citadel by George Ducker
Cluster F*ck by Jill Hoppe
Down and Out by Chase Kroll
Focus by Heidi Nyburg
Franchise by Diana Wright
Freaktown by Kyle Francis
Grand Hotel by Tara Pinley
Green Creek by Heidi Putallaz
Hello, I Live Here by Dani Messerschmidt
History’s Greatest Monster by Jon Bershad
Intelligents by Scott C. Reynolds
Leap by Chase Kroll
Lovecraft by Douglas Wolfe
Masters & Demons by Alexandra Segel
Metro Girl by Jennifer Jackson
The Mother by Laura Bensick
Recension by Richard Jones
Rise & Shine by Jessica Paine
Seaside Saints by Meghan Fitzmartin
Sorostitute by Michael Sorce
Sound Effect by Nick Camilleri & David Sanner Macfarlane
Tech & Stryker by Odin Ozdil
Widows by Laura Bensick
Wildcat by Sam Cooke & Hussain Pirani
Quarterfinalists
(Un)heroic by David Aaron Tripp & Brandon Zachary
40 Elephants by Kay Tuxford & E.S. Dahl
A Millennial’s History of the United States by Christopher Harder
Ace Academy by Molly Driscoll
Acting Out by Jeremy Leder
Affluenza by Zach Dunn
American Generation by Andy Stewart & T’Lane Balue
America’s Least Wanted by Ben Deeb & Graham Towers
The Auteur by Jason Skorski & Matt McHugh
Better Call Saul – Domingo by Jared Ronin
Blackish – The N-Word by Justin Carter
Blackmarsh by Katherine DiSavino
Blades by Heather Gornall
Bob’s Burgers – The Bobfather by Jon Schabl
Bog Walk by Dominique A. Holmes
Bronx, Inc. by Mario Moreno
By Any Means by Sabrina Almeida
Calamity Meadows by Benjamin Deeb & Graham Towers
Cartella by Brianna Janes
Citadel by George Ducker
Cluster F*ck by Jill Hoppe
The Comeback Kid by Jimmy Blackmon
Dirty Deeds by Mark Eccleston
Down and Out by Chase Kroll
El Rio by Michael Ray Escamilla & Davina Willett
Eulogists by Ron Marek and Amy Schwartz
Focus by Heidi Nyburg
Franchise by Diana Wright
Freaktown by Kyle Francis
Good Guys, Inc. by Troy Collins
Grand Hotel by Tara Pinley
Green Creek by Heidi Putallaz
Hall and Kovacs by Christopher Polisi
Hello, I Live Here by Dani Messerschmidt
History’s Greatest Monster by Jon Bershad
The Hunter by Angela Berliner
Impresario by Raj Balu
Intelligents by Scott C. Reynolds
The Invisible Rail by Jason Berman
Jackass Flats by Ben Deeb & Graham Towers
Jerry the Cleaner by Jason Skorski
The Kindred by L.S. Garvey
Lakeview by Teresa Huang
Landers End by Jeremy D. Christensen
Leap by Chase Kroll
Los Ninos Sicarios by Rob Lambert
Lovecraft by Douglas Wolfe
Madam by Quinton Marquiss
Magickal by Shawn Linden
Mastermind by George Covic
Masters & Demons by Alexandra Segel
Matryoshka by Angela Berliner
Meet Marketing by Ross Gibby
Memento Moira by Cameron Pfhaler
Metro Girl by Jennifer Jackson
The Mother by Laura Bensick
My Life’s in Storage by Pam Susemiehl
Pixel Garden by Odin Ozdil
Recension by Richard Jones
Rise & Shine by Jessica Paine
Schooled by Madeline Brestal
Seaside Saints by Meghan Fitzmartin
The Seven by Nicklaus Alioto
Sorostitute by Michael Sorce
Sound Effect by Nick Cammilleri & David Sanner Macfarlane
Southwark by Kyle Francis
Spooky Church by Alex Ptak & Andrew Tavin
Tech & Stryker by Odin Ozdil
Theory of Evelyn by Rachelle Chartrand & Titus Heckel
Troy by Samuel Laskey
Under the Covers by Kayte Corrigan
Wayward Son by Bill Balas
Widows by Laura Bensick
Wildcat by Sam Cooke & Hussain Pirani