Winner
Visitation by Helen Gaughran
Helen Gaughran grew up in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, Ireland–the tiny hometown of James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw (who have also enjoyed modest writing success).
There, she attended a castle-convent where she was taught Latin, discipline and a love of literature by nuns who could easily have played Bridge professionally.
She graduated from an Irish university you’ve never heard of and moved to San Francisco, where she worked as a waitress until she won a green card in the lottery. (God bless America!) She proceeded to squander her good fortune by working in a raft of ad agencies, where she picked up a One Show pencil and a Clio (along with the urge to write something more personal and meaningful).
Helen has written three other feature screenplays: Pop Psychology, The Patriot Test and The Domina Effect. She also won an all-Ireland medal for math at age 11 and, to this day, has no idea how that happened.
In the alter ego category, she is a former California State pool champion and played pool professionally on the WPBA Tour (and yes, she lost to the Black Widow).
Runner-up
The Motherfuckin’ Ruckus by Joseph Tower & Alexander Gradet
JOE TOWER is a screenwriter and content manager specialized in entertainment marketing and developmental editing. He taught creative writing at Columbia College, was the Associate Editor for F Magazine, and founded the renowned Chicago literary series, Readings Under the Influence.
As a producer for Hatbeard Company, he created long-time Los Angeles storytelling series, Tales Of Our Folly, as well as multiple podcasts, and helped found the theater company Barker Room Rep with director Mark Sitko.
He’s written dozens of commercials, TV pitches, and is a published interviewer, essayist, and cultural critic.
Over the course of his career, Daytime Emmy® nominee ALEXANDER GRADET has created award-winning graphics, music, lyrics, screenplays, stage-plays, comic books, commercials, promos and branding content for Blue Sky Studios, DC Comics, Mighty Atomic Industries, The Second City, and The American Museum of Natural History.
A Baltimore native and lapsed New Yorker, he lives in Southern California’s beautiful San Fernando Valley, with his wife, son, and dog.
Finalists
America Online by Ariel Sobel
Animal by Milena Korolczuk
Darryn the Bold and the Sword of Boldness by Justin Best
Molly by Justin Kwon
Somewhere Lies the Truth by Elizabeth Musgrave
Song of Myself by Warner Wood
The Bitterroot Chronicles by Debbie Castanha
The Heeler by Darcy Bahensky
The Motherfuckin’ Ruckus by Joseph Tower & Alexander Gradet
Visitation by Helen Gaughran
Semifinalists
America Online by Ariel Sobel
Animal by Milena Korolczuk
Big Red by Aaron McCann & Dominic Pearce
Blood Knot by Jess McKillop
Darryn the Bold and the Sword of Boldness by Justin Best
Deepfake by Alex Payne
Disc by Nicola Quilter
Figment by Kelly Luu & Kevin Luu
Intergalactic by David L. Williams
It’s a Christmas Miracle, Charlie Brown by Tom Radovich
Leviathan by Gabriel Feinberg
Love Don’t Go by Barry Galperin
Molly by Justin Kwon
Sick by Sylvia Alcala
Slater Berricks is a Dead Man by Paul Ashton
Somewhere Lies the Truth by Elizabeth Musgrave
Song of Myself by Warner Wood
The Bitterroot Chronicles by Debbie Castanha
The Endling by Devin Fearn
The Heeler by Darcy Bahensky
The Litany (Or the Elephant, the Owl, and the Fox) by Evan Cooper
The Motherfuckin’ Ruckus by Joseph Tower & Alexander Gradet
The Waygook by Don Grail
Visitation by Helen Gaughran
Quarterfinalists
A Custom of the Sea by Amanda Prentiss
A Season To Laugh by Gavin Fields
After A Fifty-One Fifty by Colin Campbell
America Online by Ariel Sobel
Animal by Milena Korolczuk
Big Red by Aaron McCann & Dominic Pearce
Bitterroot by Matthew Kaler
Blood Knot by Jess McKillop
Cemetery Girl by Jeff York
Choose Your Own Love Story by Jonathon Auxier
Crushable by John MacRitchie
Darryn the Bold and the Sword of Boldness by Justin Best
Deadhead by Joshua Salzberg
Deepfake by Alex Payne
Disabused by Charlotte Cameron
Disc by Nicola Quilter
Disfluency by Anna Baumgarten
Ellen Flood by Kevin Burke
Figment by Kelly Luu & Kevin Luu
Finding Yesterday by Christie Conochalla
Firstborn by Tyler Savage
Forty-Second Boyd by Richard Fowler
Fuck New Rome by Erik Sternberger
God Save the Prom Queen by Devi Snively
Going Away Party by Timothy Morgan
Hackneyed by Ariel Ehrlich
Heel by Edwin Mangassarian
Her Weight on Me by Rebecca Lou
His Name is Vincent by Kelly Luu & Kevin Luu
Hollow Code by Chas Fisher
In Blood by Vandon Gibbs
In Too Deep: The Brian Futz Story (A Long Lost 80’s Movie) by Zack R. Smith & Andrew Miller
Intergalactic by David L. Williams
It’s a Christmas Miracle, Charlie Brown by Tom Radovich
Jake and Bethany: A Story of Incest by Jonathan Hludzinski
Jyoti by Jared Goodman
Keep The Car Running by Matthew Fantaci
Kill Grandma by Patrick Poff
Kill or Cure by Charlotte Cameron
Konigsberg – A Love Story by Anthony J. Green
Lady Lazarus by Sheridan Watson
Legacy by Sheila Jenca
Leviathan by Gabriel Feinberg
Love Don’t Go by Barry Galperin
Lullabies of La Jaula by Karen McDermott
Mayfield by Gemma Crofts
Molly by Justin Kwon
Mr. Tuttles by “Erik Sternberger ”
No Heroes Here by Clint Williams
On the Lam by Adrienne Arno & Kal-El Bogdanove
Once Upon a Time in Shaolin by Maxwell Towson
Queen + Country by Varun Thapliyal
Reunion by Sheridan Watson
Rook by Aisling Corristine
Saving Mark Twain by Staton Rabin
Scape the Lightning Bolt! by Gary Morra
She Cried by Walker Hare
Shrimp by Nicole Jones
Sick by Sylvia Alcala
Silhouette by Lukas Hassel
Slater Berricks is a Dead Man by Paul Ashton
Sleepless Gene by Nik Frank-Lehrer
Somewhere Lies the Truth by Elizabeth Musgrave
Son of a Gun by Kevin Miller
Song of Myself by Warner Wood
Sororicide by Jesse Brown
Splitting Image by Douglas Rich
Stoker & Wells: Order of the Golden Dawn by Steven Peros
The Art of Suicide by Devi Snively
The Bitterroot Chronicles by Debbie Castanha
The Coward and The Snitch by Alexander Pack
The Danger Inside by Tyler Rabinowitz
The Devil’s Symphony by Scott Hamilton
The Dreamer of Dreams by David Kushner, Joshua Bullock
The Endling by Devin Fearn
The Find by Isaac Ruth
The Fire Captain by Marc Messenger
The Fog Comes on Little Cat Feet by Tania Raymonde
The G.O.A.T. by Sid Patwa
The Godmother by Shar Carter
The Heeler by Darcy Bahensky
The Howard Boy by John Killoran
The Hunters by Karl Shefelman
The Litany (Or the Elephant, the Owl, and the Fox) by Evan Cooper
The Motherfuckin’ Ruckus by Joseph Tower & Alexander Gradet
The Piper by Samuel McGoldrick
The Slide by Dennis Luu
The Visit by Jessica O’Keefe
The Waygook by Don Grail
Throw Money by Charlotte Cameron
Unassigned Lands by Kathryn Golden
Visitation by Helen Gaughran
Weekend at Gina’s by Christian DeAngelis
Wendy Darling by Dan Williams
Whispers from the Watchtower by Jai Brandon
White Christmas by Shia Labeouf
Winter Quarters by Nathan Floody