Academy unveils Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship winners

Nov 05, 2007 by Ian Evans

Congratulations go out to seven new screenwriters who have been selected as recipients of the 22nd Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Each writer or writing team will receive a prestigious $30,000 prize, the first installment of which will be distributed at a gala dinner in Beverly Hills on November 15.

This year’s winners are (listed alphabetically by author):

• Amy Garcia, Manteca, California and Cecilia Contreras, Pleasanton, California, Amelia Earhart and the Bologna Rainbow Highway
• Michael L. Hare, Moorpark, California, The Fly Fisher
• Sidney King, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Kalona
• David Mango, Japan and Syracuse, New York, Kissing a Suicide Bomber
• Andrew Shearer and Nicholas J. Sherman, Los Angeles, California, Holy Irresistible

This is the third consecutive year that a script written by a team earned its writers a fellowship, and the first time two writing teams have been selected in a single year; collaborative efforts were first allowed into the competition in 2001. Garcia and Contreras are the first female team to earn a fellowship.