The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its annual list of winning Nicholl Fellowship screenwriters Friday, an accolade that has helped cement rising screenwriting stars in Hollywood.
The five winners of the fellowship will each receive a $35,000 prize, and their winning works will be presented at a live read Nov. 7 in Beverly Hills.
The 2019 winners of the Academy Nicholl Fellowship are:
Aaron Chung, Princess Vietnam
Karen McDermott, Lullabies of La Jaula
Renee Pillai, Boy With Kite
Sean Malcolm, Mother
Walker McKnight, Street Rat Allie Punches Her Ticket
The Academy said it had received more than 7,300 scripts for this year’s competition, out of which 12 finalists were selected. Their works were then judged by the Academy Nicholl Fellowships committee, chaired by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who also is a governor on the Academy’s short films and feature animation branch. The final five were then selected by the committee made up of members that span the Academy’s various branches.
The Academy Nicholl Fellowship program has handed out 161 fellowships since its inception in 1986, and has minted screenwriters such as Short Term 12 filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, Netflix’s Unbelievable showrunner Susannah Grant and Jacob Estes, who wrote and directed Blumhouse horror Don’t Let Go.
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