$35000 prizes : Deadline for Academy Nicholl Fellowships nears

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Deadlines to submit entries to the 2013 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition are Wednesday, April 10 (regular deadline) and Wednesday, May 1 (final deadline). As many as five $35,000 fellowships will be awarded in November.

Several past Nicholl fellows have made news recently with their achievements. Destin Cretton won the Grand Jury and Audience awards at SXSW earlier this year with "Short Term 12," which he directed from his fellowship-winning screenplay. Creighton Rothenberger co-wrote "Olympus Has Fallen," starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman and Angela Bassett, which opened near the top of the box office last month.

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships competition is open to any individual who has not earned a total of more than $25,000 from the sale or option of screenplays or teleplays. This amount for 2013 is an increase from the $5,000 limit in previous years. To enter, writers must submit a completed application online, upload one PDF copy of their original screenplay in English and pay the appropriate entry fee before the deadline. The entry fee is $50 through 11:59 p.m. PT on April 10, and $65 through 11:59 p.m. PT on May 1.

For online applications, rules and other details, visit www.oscars.org/nicholl.

Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients will each complete a new feature-length screenplay during the fellowship year. The Academy acquires no rights to the works of Nicholl fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.

Last year's competition drew a record 7,197 entries. Since the program's inception in 1985, 128 fellowships have been awarded.