The next Academy Awards won’t take place until April due to the pandemic, but some Academy awards are being handed out today.
Five individuals have been awarded 2020 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, their scripts chosen from 7,831 that were submitted for this year’s competition.
Each winner will receive a $35,000 prize and be highlighted at the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Awards and Virtual Table Read on Thursday, Dec. 3, where an ensemble of actors will read selected scenes from the winning scripts.
The 2020 winners are (alphabetically by author): James Acker for SadBoi; Beth Curry for Lemon; Vanar Jaddou for Goodbye, Iraq; Kate Marks for The Cow of Queens; and Jane Therese for Sins of My Father.
The winners were chosen from 10 finalists by the Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee, which this year was chaired by Academy governor Jennifer Yuh Nelson (short films and feature animation). The other members of the committee were John Bailey and Steven Poster (cinematographers); William Mechanic (executives branch); James Plannette and Stephen Ujlaki (members-at-large); Julie Lynn, Peter Samuelson and Robert W. Shapiro (producers); Bobbi Banks (sound); and Eric Heisserer, Larry Karaszewski, Dan Petrie Jr., Misan Sagay, Dana Stevens and Tyger Williams (writers).
The global competition, which aims to identify and encourage talented new screenwriters, has awarded 166 fellowships since it began in 1986.
