EST. 2001
BRINGING YOU TOMORROW'S VISIONARIES... TODAY
Screenwriting
Winners
Here you will find every screenwriting award recipient from 2001 to the most current year. Please note that the competition has undergone many changes over the years and that these are all specified below. Also note that there are often winning titles from the same author, which occurs because readers and judges are not shown author names during the reviewing and voting process, thus allowing for past honorees to submit new work without the risk of any type of bias occurring during the review stages and beyond.
(listed from most recent to earliest honorees)
2024 - Feature
1st Place: DANGLING KARATS - Lanie Bryer
2nd Place: CONSUMED - Don Stroud
3rd Place: THE DEAD OWE NOTHING - Aaron Huggett
2024 - Short
1st Place: MAKING WAVES - Drew Larimore
2nd Place: BLUE SKY OUT OF THE ORESTEIA - Katherine Taylor
3rd Place: SIGHT SPECIFIC - Peter Hardy
2023 - Feature
1st Place: BOXES - Jessica Langfield
2nd Place: THE WEATHER JUST GOT SEXY - Zoe Greenbaum
3rd Place: THE YUCCA MAN - Josette Eales
2023 - Short
1st Place: THE RIDE - Alisha Haran
2nd Place: THE BONEYARD - M.R. Fitzgerald
3rd Place: IN THE DIRT - Susan G. Reid
2022 – Feature
1st Place: DON’T - Valentina Morelli
2nd Place: SLASHER FLICK - Nyle Cavazos Garcia
3rd Place: NO ADDRESS - Julia Verdin & James Papa
2022 – Short
1st Place: GALATEA’S DREAM - Elizabeth V. Newman
2nd Place: CALL ME NEVADA - Alexander Julian III
3rd Place: MAKES CENTS - Joshua Hedum
2021 – Feature
1st Place: DESERT BIRD - Josette Eales
2nd Place: THE FAERIE RINGS - Zina Brown
3rd Place: DEATH, GHOSTS & OTHER STUFF - Shannon Walsh
2021 – Short
1st Place: OVER AND OUT - Callie LeClaire
2nd Place: APRIL AND MR. STOCKMAN - Montgomery Burt
3rd Place: HAPPY ENDING RETIREMENT HOME - Kirsty Zane
2020 – Feature
1st Place: HURRICANE TARA - Kyle Curry
2nd Place: LAND OF LIGHT - Nicholas Batchelder
3rd Place: BROOK FARM - Alexander Wake
2020 – Short
1st Place: TRUE BLUE - Phil Yuhas
2nd Place: MILLICENT - Dennis Ostermaier
3rd Place: ANARTIST - Haynie Walker
2019 – Feature
1st Place: THE NIGHT BELONGS TO US - Allison Myles
2nd Place: THE OUTSKIRTS OF PARADISE - Montgomery Burt
3rd Place: SNOWFALL - Robert Languedoc
2019 – Short
1st Place: DANIEL GAVE IN - Meredith Garris
2nd Place: BOUNDARIES - Jake Teeny
3rd Place: MUTANT ZONE - Dana Cowden
2018 - Feature
1st Place: TRAGIC COMEDY - Jessica Levitton
2nd Place: EMERGENCE - DC Mallery
3rd Place: GIRL OUT OF TIME - Jay J. Falconer
2018 - Short
1st Place: PROMISES TO KEEP - Marisa Linetti
2nd Place: COULD CARE LESS - Natalia Harrington-Penn
3rd Place: FINGERS - Lachlan Marks
2017 - Feature
1st Place: LOCAL PRINCESS - Jamie Campbell
2nd Place: MY MONSTER - David Carren
3rd Place: LEGACY -Danielle Erlich
2017 - Short (only two awards presented this year)
1st Place: THE BACK END - Daniel Gessner
Honorable Mention: LULU - Tracey Lion-Cachet
2016 (additional award recipients to be determined)
Winner: THE MOONBEAM FISHERMAN - John Dummer
2016 - Short (additional award recipients to be determined)
Winner: TIGHTLY WOUND - Shelby Hadden
Honorable Mention: THE SON, THE FATHER… - Lukas Hassel
Feature-length screenplays only were awarded prior to 2016
2015
1st Place: SOLE CAPTAIN - Wernher Ovalle
2nd Place: GALAPAGOS - Lukas Hassel
3rd Place: OUTSIDE MERIDIAN - Martin Ponferrada
2014
1st Place: BROTHER BILLY - Brian Hightman
2nd Place: THE MOON, THE STARS AND ALL THE PLANETS - Carey Dunn
3rd Place: GRIMWOOD - Murat Izmirli
Wernher Ovalle
Author
SOLE CAPTAIN
2013 (five top awards presented this year)
1st Place: LOVE SCENE: THE LOVE STORY OF VIVIEN LEIGH & LAURENCE OLIVIER - Bethany Ashton Wolf
2nd Place: DEAD DOLORES - Michael Yagnow
3rd Place: THE LOOPHOLE - Sonja Greenlee & Martha Pinson
4th Place: BIOTERROR CONSPIRACY - Louis Lio
5th Place: HANCOCK PARK - Steven Wolfson
2012
1st Place: FOUNDING FATHERS - Giles Daoust
2nd Place: THE HIGH MESA COLONY - Thomas Pace
3rd Place: HOMUNCULUS - Austen Brauker
2011
1st Place: THE WHITE DEATH - James Poirier
2nd Place: SEASON OF MISTS - Kevin Brodie
3rd Place: THE FIGHTING IRISH - Nyle Cavazos Garcia
2010
1st Place: HOW TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER - Matt Wheeler
2nd Place: THE VOYEUR - John Bengel
3rd Place: BOTHERED MINDS - Simon Nagel
2009
1st Place: TAG - Nyle Cavazos Garcia
2nd Place: BLAME THE THUNDERBOLT - Doug Miles
3rd Place: THE LAST CONFESSION - Diana Eiranova-Kyle
2008:
1st Place: PREEMPTIVE STRIKE - Alan Armstrong
2nd Place: THE TERROR TAPES - Gregory Orr
3rd Place: THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT - Nyle Cavazos Garcia
TAG author, Nyle Cavazos Garcia, accepts his first place award at VF09
2007
1st Place: THE INTERVIEW - Mark Winzer
2nd Place: STEPS - Chuck Rose
3rd Place: THAT DAY ON THE ROAD - John Daschbach
Actor, Eric Stoltz, reads main character role during staged reading of 2005 first place winner
SINGLE BULLET THEORY
2006
1st Place: DANVERS - Nancy Fischer
2nd Place: UNCLE CARL - Brett Ioli
3rd Place: BEAUTIFUL BLOOD - Keira Nagle
2005 (five top awards presented this year)
1st Place: SINGLE BULLET THEORY - Mike Bencivenga
2nd Place: SHINYO MARU - William Dougherty
3rd Place: HEARTLAND - Paul Solet
4th Place: FUR - Clay Rivers
5th Place: THE PACK - Mike Parker & Susan Pellegrini
2004
1st Place: Paul Schattel - HARVESTMAN
2nd Place: CHASING THE ARMADILLO - Jennie Chamberlain & Gabriel Lichstein
3rd Place: NOD - Tony J. Perri & Sheldon Strickland
Screenplays from produced films only were awarded prior to 2004
2003
SHTICKMEN – Jeff Hays, Eric Newell, & Dean Lewis
2002
SAME DIFFERENCE - Gregory Katsoulis
2001
BLACK DAYS - Ari Margolis & James Morley III