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Contests
Kairos Prize Semifinalists Announced
By Michael Trent,
Feb 6, 2007, 13:47


While there is no lack of up-and-coming young screenwriters pitching Hollywood with their scripts for what they are sure is the next big blockbuster, the John Templeton Foundation $50,000 Kairos Prize for Spiritual Uplifting Screenplays is seeing to it that screenplays truly worth consideration receive that once-in-a-lifetime chance. Of the hundreds of scripts submitted for the competition, thirty-one semi-finalists have been selected. From these, the top three best scripts will be announced at the 15th Annual MovieguideŽ Faith and Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry, to be held Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, hosted by John Ratzenberger.


This year's semi-finalists are:

A MIRACLE ON 125TH STREET By Cheryl E. Greene

POWER OF PRAYER By Steve Jager

BY MIGHT AND POWER By Daniel S. Elliott

SAMOBOR SANCTUARY By Nancy Schalm

CHAPLAIN COHEN By Ethan Goldman

SARAH'S GIFT By Stan Himes

CHEERS & LAUGHTER By R. Wyatt Scott

SILENT NIGHT By John P. Wolff

COWBOY By Staci Stallings

SILENT RESCUE By Patricia McGoldrick

DAMASCUS By Sharon A. Baker

SOLDIER OF THE LIGHT By Stephen F. Taylor

DOUBTING THOMAS By John L. Martins III

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS By David A. Wesner

HEARTS OF WAX By Leslie Ruth Damude

TEACH THEM TO FISH By Mimi Stuart Armstrong

HOME PLACE By Deana Costner

THE ANGEL GABRIEL By Carolyn Haywood

HOPE NOW By Skin Mead

THE ANGEL OF BORDEAUX By Joseph J. Avella

JULIUS By Byron Smythe

THE GIFT By Jeffrey M. Harvey

JUST MERCY By Jeffrey Gator Henry, Robert McCrea and Peter Coleman

THE MAN IN THE ALLEY By Lisa Kirazian

LITTLE ACCIDENTS By Calix Lewis Reneau

THE WIND KNOWS MY NAME By Claudia Kim Wolfkind

MARTYR By Brian J. Martin

UNLIMITED By David de Vos

ONE LAST CHANCE By J. Robb Kelley

WILD MONTANA SKY By Debra Holland

OTHER PEOPLE'S KIDS By Shelley D. Terrel

"Once again, we've been overwhelmed by the quality and creativity of the scripts submitted for this competition," said Dr. Ted Baehr, president of MovieguideŽ and the Christian Film & Television Commission, which awards the prize in conjunction with the Templeton Foundation. "With more scripts like these arriving every year, I'm very excited for the future of the film industry, that we can once again have choices at the box office that are both good quality films, with wholesome morals and values."

More important than the prize money for these scriptwriters is the very real opportunity their screenplays will have to be considered by the top studios in Hollywood. Names like Dick Cook (Disney), Penney Finkleman Cox (Sony Animation), Jeffrey Katzenberg (Dreamworks) and Amy Pascal (Columbia Pictures), are just the tip of the iceberg of studio executives and producers who have signed up to take a look at the Kairos Prize winning entries. Last year's winner, JOHN, THE REVELATOR, by David M. Anthony, is still in process and could be just the beginning in a long line of new Christian blockbusters.

Specific criteria for the script contest described screenplays that are wholesome, uplifting and inspirational, and which result in a greater increase in either man's love for or understanding of "the one true creator God," similar to the famous Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. The John Templeton Foundation $50,000 Kairos Prize for Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays includes a $25,000 grand prize and runner-up awards of $15,000 and $10,000 each.

The top three winners will be announced by Dr. Baehr and Dr. Templeton at the MovieguideŽ Awards Gala, where more than 200 top executives, filmmakers and celebrities will be in attendance. In addition to his annual Report to the Entertainment Industry, Dr. Baehr will also announce the Top Ten Films for Families and the Top Ten Films for Mature Audiences, as well as the Grace Awards for exemplifying God's grace and mercy toward us as human beings through their performances in a movie and television program, and the Templeton-sponsored Epiphany Prizes for Inspiring Film and Television Program.


Contest info: John Templeton Foundation Kairos Prize

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