ScreenCraft Cinematic Prose
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About
Benefits
GRAND PRIZE WINNER
The overall grand prize winner in either book or short story category will be welcomed to the Writer Development Program and receive personal introductions and phone calls with one or more top industry professionals who are looking for talented emerging writers.
ScreenCraft has a proven track record for getting writers signed with managers, agents, and staffed in writing rooms.
They'll also receive:
- • Personal Introduction to top industry professionals
- • $1,000 cash award
- • An exclusive invitation to a Finalist only workshop to position yourself and your writing to the industry
CATEGORY WINNERS (Book and Short Story)
- • $500 cash award
- • Accepted into the Writer Development Program
- • An exclusive invitation to a Finalist only workshop to position yourself and your writing to the industry
FINALISTS
• An exclusive invitation to a Finalist only workshop to position yourself and your writing to the industry
Grand Prize Mentor
Joe Haar
Associate
Intellectual Property Group
Joe Haar is an Associate at Intellectual Property Group, where he works as a literary manager. He represents bestselling and award-winning authors, journalists, and historic literary estates in optioning their intellectual property for film, television, podcasts, and new media. Before entering literary representation, Joe worked extensively in entertainment, across development and physical production, in Los Angeles – where he now lives – and his hometown of Toronto.
Jury
Christina Sibul
Producer
Christina Sibul is an independent producer as well as being a highly regarded Development and Production Consultant within the film industry. Recent releases include MONICA, released by IFC Films in 2023, and BUTTER, released by Blue Fox Entertainment in 2022. MONICA premiered in competition to rave reviews at 2022’s Venice International Film Festival, was nominated for 2 Spirit Awards and won a GLAAD Media Award in 2024. A longtime Development and Production Executive, credits (among many others) of Christina’s include SIDEWAYS, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, STATION AGENT, LORDS OF DOGTOWN and THIRTEEN.
Gabrielle Utsey
VP, Development
POV Entertainment
Gabrielle Utsey worked her way up from assistant at HBO Max, becoming a junior executive, in which role she worked on original drama series The Flight Attendant, Raised By Wolves, Pennyworth, DMZ, a Dune spinoff series and The Girls On the Bus. Currently Gabrielle is the VP of Development for Layne Eskridge’s POV Entertainment.
Shadley Grei
VP, Development
Ardvella Entertainment
Shadley Grei is a writer, consultant, and the VP of Development at Ardvella Entertainment. With a passion for storytellers, he has developed, optioned, and pitched several projects to top studios and production companies, including five novels, three of which he adapted.
Zoe Howard
Literary Agent
Howland Literary
Zoe-Aline Howard is a literary agent at Howland Literary, and a book publicist at Pine State Publicity, a full service publicity firm that supports writers and publishers who may seem traditionally peripheral in the larger publishing landscape. She holds a BFA with Distinction and Publishing Certificate from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and has had the privilege to work across publishing with several entities, including independent press Lookout Books.
Korin D. Williams
CEO
Kronicle Media
Korin D. Williams is the CEO of Kronicle Media, a production and literary management company she co-founded in 2017 with Monique Nash. Williams oversees numerous projects, including a drama series inspired by the founding of Essence magazine, romantic comedies for Netflix and VH-1, and a series adaptation of SHAKESPEARE'S CONSPIRATOR for Westbrook Studios. Recently, she executive produced UNTHINKABLY GOOD THINGS for Crown Media’s Mahogany banner, shot in Rome, Italy. Previously, Williams developed and executive produced Lifetime’s hit SINGLE BLACK FEMALE and MERRY LIDDLE CHRISTMAS starring Kelly Rowland, which led to a successful franchise. She also manages Kronicle Media’s literary division, promoting talented clients working on popular series and films. Williams is a Virginia Commonwealth University graduate and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. member.
Allen Eckhouse
General Manager
Logical Talent Management
Allen is the General Manager of Logical Talent Management. Additionally, LTM works with literary authors, podcast creators, board game designers, and other content generators to help bring their projects to life. He previously worked at CAA, where he helped manage the live comedy tours of Trevor Noah, T.J. Miller, Whitney Cummings, Gabriel Iglesias, James Corden, Dana Carvey, and Mel Brooks. Allen has developed pitch concepts for Dreamworks, Amblin, Blumhouse, and Illumination Entertainment
VIP Development Partner
Emma Kapson
Agent
Verve
Emma Kapson is a native Los Angeleno and Junior Agent and IP Coordinator at Verve Talent & Literary Agency. She started her career in publishing at Regan Arts and has since transitioned to representation. She’s passionate about literature and bringing stories she believes in to life in various mediums like film, television, and audio. She is a young agent looking to build her list and is open to queries of any kind. She primarily works with female authors, has an eye for women’s voices, loves strong, female driven narratives, epic worlds, romance, horror, and works by foreign and diverse writers. Emma signed previous winner of the ScreenCraft Cinematic Prose Competition Kayla Hardy, who will be published by Ballantine in 2026!
2025 Winners on Coverfly
Announcements
Rules
At the program's request, Coverfly will automatically remove your title page for you if you include one when submitting to this program.
- Submissions are accepted via electronic submission only.
- Entry fees are as listed on the site and checkout form. No coupon or discount is applicable on a previous entry.
- Short Stories must be 20,000 words or less. Files should be in PDF format when submitted and should be double spaced. Books must be 150,000 words or less - - in early rounds of reading the writing will be judged based on the first few opening sections of the book. Files should be in PDF format when submitted and should be double spaced.
- Optional feedback from a professional reader may be requested at the time of entry for your submission. Please note: feedback will only be provided on the first 50 pages and synopsis of your project.
- If a writer would like multiple books that are part of a series to be considered, each book must receive their own individual submission. While each submission will receive its own evaluation we cannot guarantee they will be evaluated by the same reader.
- Short stories should be submitted individually and not as part of a collection. If a collection is submitted, only the first story will be considered.
- There is no limit to the number of projects you may submit.
- Entries must be received on or before the deadline dates by 11:59PM Pacific Time, and submission fee payment must be made in full at time of the submission. All entry fees are non-refundable.
- All submitted material must be owned by the writer(s), however the material may be based on other works not owned by the writers.
- Material must be submitted by the writer. Material written by writing teams must be submitted by one of the writers, with consent of the other(s).
- If a writing team is chosen as a winner, prizes will be given to the person who submits the project. Each team is responsible for dividing or sharing any prizes awarded as they deem fair (whether there is a cash value or not).
- Substitutions of either corrected pages or new drafts of the entered material will be allowed for a limited time with a $6 reentry fee through Coverfly. Please proofread your entry carefully before submitting.
- It is recommended that original material be registered with the WGA or The Library of Congress before submitting to any competition, however we do not require registration.
- Contact info may be included on the cover page of the submission, however it is not required. ScreenCraft uses Coverfly to manage submissions and automatically removes cover pages before submissions are read by the judges.
- ScreenCraft claims no ownership nor option on your work. All ownership and rights to the projects submitted to this contest remains with the original rights holders.
- The decision of the judges will be final and cannot be contested in any manner. There is no score on a scorecard that guarantees advancement to the next level as advancement will be based on all scores in the competition.
- In the event a juror, partner organization, or prize partner is no longer able to serve in their specified capacity, ScreenCraft will make its best effort to secure a replacement. ScreenCraft is not responsible for the failed delivery of any prize package by a juror, sponsor, or partner organization.
- ScreenCraft reserves the right to change deadline and announcement dates at any time.
- ScreenCraft reserves the right to amend these rules at any time.
- For full rules, see ScreenCraft Website.