Champion Screenwriting Competition

$2500 Cash; $5000 in other prizes including 1 year video membership, a half-day coaching session and taping with PitchQ.com; entrance into A-List Screenwriting: The Immersion (formerly Killer Screenwriting); Proofreading from David Gillis; 2 Career Coaching sessions with Choose Change's Rhona Berens; and career or pitching chat with Michael Lent, (Breakfast with Sharks).

SECOND PLACE

$1000 Cash; $4000 in other prizes including 1 year video membership, two-hour coaching session and taping with PitchQ.com; entrance into A-List Screenwriting: The Immersion; a 90-minute Breaking the Story session with Pilar Alesandra; a Career Coaching session with Rhona Berens; and Proofreading from David Gillis

THIRD PLACE

$500 Cash ; $2000 in other prizes including 1 year video membership, two-hour coaching session and taping with PitchQ.com; entrance into A-List Screenwriting: The Immersion; Proofreading from David Gillis; a Career Coaching session with Rhona Berens; Career or pitching chat with Jim Mercurio; and development notes.

Top 3 scripts will be read by 50 companies.

LOW BUDGET HORROR PRIZE

$500 cash or a writing deal on a micro-budgeted straight-to-DVD horror film. Stay tuned.

More than $2500 in other prizes to feature finalists and semifinalists and every entrant will receive a special code that allows them to receive a 50% discount on a PitchQ subscription.

SHORTS

FIRST PLACE

$1000 cash; Set of development, producing and directing notes.

SECOND PLACE

$500 cash.

All submitting writers must be 18 years of age or older (and able to prove it if required to do so).

Feature Screenplays must:

be written and submitted in English;
be an original and unproduced script that has not been optioned and to which the writer(s) retain(s) all rights, from the time of submission until the announcement of the winning script(s); be between 90 and 130 pages in length;
have numbered pages; and
be in industry-standard screenplay format

Short Screenplays must:

be written and submitted in English;
be an original and unproduced script that has not been optioned and to which the writer(s) retain(s) all rights, from the time of submission until the announcement of the winning script(s); be less than or equal to 15 pages in length;
have numbered pages; and
be in industry-standard screenplay format

Screenplays in any genre are accepted.

Adaptations are not accepted.

Only electronic copies of scripts submitted through WAB with a valid credit card payment will be accepted. Please do not send a hard copy of any screenplay.

Only screenplay submissions in Final Draft, Movie Magic, PDF, RTF, DOC and Word file formats are acceptable.

Multiple submissions - i.e., submissions of more than one different script - are accepted so long as each separate submission is accompanied with a separate application and entry fee.

Writer(s) may submit only one copy, draft or version of any single screenplay, (i.e., the same script can t be submitted more than once, or one that is basically similar to another being submitted, even if a different title or author name were to appear the cover of a similar script). Warning: Any attempts to submit the same or similar scripts under different titles or different author names will result, if discovered, in the immediate disqualification of all entries by the submitting writer(s) with no possibility of any refunded payment(s).

After the submission of any script(s), no subsequent substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the entry screenplays shall be allowed, except for scripts that are initially submitted in the Screenplay (Feature) with Coverage category, which may then subsequently be resubmitted in the Screenplay (feature) Resubmission Category. Once a script is validly resubmitted, only the most recent draft will remain in consideration for the competition prizes. If the original submission advanced to the Quarterfinalist round, the resubmitted script will automatically be placed in the Quarterfinalist round. It is not a requirement that if a script uses the coverage service, it also then has to be resubmitted.

Collaborative work undertaken by two writers is eligible for submission. Collaborative work by three or more writers is not eligible for submission. All prizes will be automatically split 50-50 by collaborators. If a submitted work has two authors, the names of both authors must appear on the submitted work and application.

Entering the competition constitutes permission for us from the submitting writer(s) to, as we see fit (a) use (or not use as we sit) finalists' names and likenesses for publicity and promotions with no additional compensation, and (b) publicize and promote the progress, development and success of the entered script(s).

Partners, affiliated members, sponsors employees of Champion Screenwriting Competition or of A-List Screenwriting LLC, and any members of the immediate families of these entities, are not eligible to compete in this contest, nor are competition judges and their immediate families.

No applicant may have earned more than $10,000 in cash or other consideration (combined) as a screenwriter for theatrical films or television, or for the sale of, or sale of an option to, any original story, treatment, screenplay or teleplay. Applicants also may not have received, between the time period between the submission of their script and the final announcement of winners, a screenwriting fellowship or prize which includes a "first look" clause, an option or any other quid pro quo involving the work of any submitting writer(s).

The decisions of the judge(s) of the Champion Screenwriting Competition are final and not subject to dispute.

The Champion Screenwriting Competition reserves the right to substitute prizes for other prizes of equal monetary value and to extend the final deadline.

The Champion Screenwriting Competition will disqualify scripts and/or any writer(s) for not adhering to these Rules. No refund(s) will be issued for any disqualified scripts or writer(s). The Champion Screenwriting Competition reserves the right to remove submitted material from the competition with or without cause and the writer(s) will be notified. If without cause, the entry fee alone may be refunded.

In an effort to make a contribution toward a better environment, the Champion Screenplay Competition is a paperless contest. We only accept scripts and payments electronically through Withoutabox. All submission payments must be made by credit card in US dollars. Please do not mail scripts or payments, as such scripts shall not be returned nor such payments accepted/credited.

All monetary prizes will be paid in US dollars. The winners of time spent with consultants, coaches and mentors and/or industry professionals agree to work within the schedule and time constraints of the professionals who are donating their time.

All participants will be automatically registered to the Champion Screenwriting Competition s email Updates list and A-List Screenwriting's Career and Craft, a free e-newsletter. Clear instructions on how to unsubscribe are available in every email we send.

It is suggested to all submitting writer(s), for their own protection, that prior to submission they register their materials with either the WGA or the US Copyright Office.

All submissions must be processed through Withoutabox and adhere to the submission process and procedures, and anyone submitting scripts agrees to fully abide by any and all Champion Screenwriting Competition rules.

Please note there are 3 different categories for feature-length screenplays:

Screenplay (feature-length) - For feature-length screenplays that have not and are not planning to use the coverage service.

Screenplay (feature-length) with Coverage - For feature-length screenplays that are using the coverage service.

Screenplay (feature-length) Resubmission - Only for screenplays that used the coverage service and are now being resubmitted.