The Academy has announced this year’s Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners, including four individuals and one writing team. Each individual and writing team will receive a $35,000 prize and mentorship from an Academy member throughout the recipient’s fellowship year.
In addition to the winners being featured at the 2022 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards, an ensemble of actors will read selected scenes from the winning screenplays live at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Nov. 9.
This year’s amateur screenwriters competition received a total of 5,526 scripts from 85 countries. After several rounds that were judged by industry professionals and Academy members, 11 individual screenwriters were selected as finalists, with their scripts read and judged by the Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee before voting on this year’s winners. The 2022 finalists include Michael Boyle (“8 Habits of Highly Murderous People”), Darcy P. Brislin (“We Sing”), Jake Disch (“The Supremes”), Julian Hooper (“Madame”) and S.E. Sinclair (“The Stratford Wife”).
The Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee is chaired by Eric Heisserer of the Academy’s writers branch. Members of the Nicholl Fellowships Committee include Susan Shopmaker, John Bailey, Steven Poster, James Plannette, Stephen Ujlaki, Jason Michael Berman, Julia Chasman, Peter Samuelson, Bobbi Banks, Larry Karaszewski, Adele Lim, Zak Penn, Dan Petrie Jr. Katie Silverman and Dana Stevens.
Here are this year’s Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting winners:
Jennifer Archer, “Into the Deep Blue”
Callie Bloem and Christopher Ewing, “Tape 22”
Sam Boyer, “Ojek”
J.M. Levine, “Operation Gemini”
Timothy Ware-Hill, “Tyrone and the Looking Glass”