#NFF2023 SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED!

The Nantucket Film Festival® launched the Tony Cox Screenplay Competitions over 20 years ago to recognize emerging writers and their screenplays as the best of the best from our pool of submissions each year. These competitions give writers the opportunity to have their scripts read by a prestigious jury, receive top industry recognition, participate in a festival focused specifically on screenwriting, and win over $5,000 in total cash prizes.

  • Cash for all winners.

  • All-inclusive writers retreat on Nantucket with the Almanack Screenwriters for some categories.

  • Passes to the Nantucket Film Festival.

  • And more!

Congratulations to our 2022 Tony Cox Award Winners!

 
 

Episodic 30 Screenplay:
IMPERFECT by David Crane and Nicole Evans
A dramedy about an L.A. girl with a big dream, a complicated family, and a little disability.

Episodic 60 Screenplay:
MURDER IN MARSH by Elisabeth Hayward
Relive the 1990 Moreton Murders, as Detective Asher secretly opens her old case files after receiving a mysterious confession from the killer, thirty years later.

Short Screenplay:
PANCAKE SKANK by Sav Rodgers
A mythical anti-heroine and her meek sidekick wreak havoc on a small town when they decide to rob every breakfast joint in this surrealist fantasy.

Feature Screenplay:
THE RIFT by Michael Lei
A smuggler and his estranged son, polarized by their political beliefs, are further divided by a mysterious force that is splintering the world into two competing realities: one where the sun never sets and the other eternally in the dark. To survive they must confront the differences that divide them before they are forever torn apart.

 

2022 Showtime Tony Cox Screenplay Competition Prizes

FEATURE SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

TWO FINALISTS In each category receive:

  • Participation in Mentors Brunch with prominent screenwriter during NFF; 

  • Attend reception during the festival; 

  • A pass for the 2022 festival;

  • Name inclusion on festival website as a competition finalist.

ONE WINNER receives:

  • $2,500 cash prize from the Nantucket Film Festival;

  • All-inclusive, month-long writer's retreat on Nantucket in October with Almanack Screenwriters;

  • A pass for the 2022 festival;

  • A reception during the festival in the winners’ honor;

  • Custom bound copy of the winner’s script;

  • Name inclusion in press release and on festival website as a competition winner and finalist;

EPISODIC SCREENPLAY (60 MIN) COMPETITION

ONE WINNER receives:

  •  $1,000 cash prize from the Nantucket Film Festival;

  • A pass for the 2022 festival;

  • A reception during the festival in the winners’ honor;

  • Custom bound copy of the winner’s script;

  • Name inclusion on Festival website as a competition finalist and winner.

EPISODIC SCREENPLAY (30 MIN) COMPETITION

ONE WINNER receives:

  • $1,000 cash prize from the Nantucket Film Festival;

  • A pass for the 2022 festival;

  • A reception during the festival in the winners’ honor;

  • Custom bound copy of the winner’s script;

  • Name inclusion on festival website as a competition finalist and winner.

SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

ONE WINNER receives:

  • $500 cash prize from the Nantucket Film Festival;

  • A pass for the 2022 festival;

  • A reception during the festival in the winners’ honor;

  • Name inclusion in press release and on festival website as a competition winner and finalist.

Past Winners

Past Feature Screenplay Winners

2022: THE RIFT - Michael LEI
2021: THE 84 - Sonja Perryman
2020: MINOR MODIFICATIONS - Shia Labeouf
2019: Sundogs - Elizabeth Chatelain
2018: CAMBRIDGE - HENRY HAYES AND ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS
2017: Johnny Ace - Moon Molson
2016: TEL AVIV ON FIRE - Sameh zoabi
2015: Counterintelligence - Kristen Davila
2014: Early Plus Infinity - Clark Carroll
2013: Cake - Patrick Tobin
2012: Jean of the Joneses - Stella Meghie
2011: The Murphys - Kaitlin McLaughlin
2010: Etopia - Tommy Butler
2009: Future Weather - Jenny Deller
2008: Anna Down East - Fred M. Strype
2007: Peck - Marc Arneson
2006: Cold Souls - Sophie Barthes
2005: Mink - Will Luers
2004: The Last Seder - Jennifer Maisel
2003: Buried Above Ground - Chase Palmer
2002: Down to the Bone - Debra Granik

Past Episodic Screenplay (60 Min) Winners

2022: MURDER IN MARSH - ELISABETH HAYWARD
2021: SECOND CROSSING - James Howells
2020: BEING SEEN - Andi Delott
2019: Living - Kate Levitt
2018: LEGACY - KELLEN HERTZ
2017: The line - Tesia Walker
2016: Cleo - Julia Fontana
2015: I.c.e. - Estella Gabriel
2014: Tomorrowland - Jamie Mayer
2013: The Messiah Project - David Baugnon

Past Episodic Screenplay (30 Min) Winners

2022: IMPERFECT - DAVID CRANE & NICOLE EVANS
2021: HEAD FIRST - Jade Edwards
2020: DRYWALL - Rob Eckard
2019: Funderland - Sasha Perl-raver
2018: ALL WE DO IS NGUYEN - HUONG NGUYEN
2017: Casey Can't - Kaitlin Fontana
2016: The GodMother - Wyndham Lewis
2015: Sold - Jonathan Schwartz
2014: Stiffs - Stuart Feldman
2013: Time Out - Ian McWethy

Past Short Screenplay Winners

2022: PANCAKE SKANK - SAV RODGERS
2021: THE LITTLE MONSTER OF RAVENSWOOD MANOR - Katherine Sainte Marie
2020: MARTHA - Sarah Smith
2019: I know your number by heart - Alexis Barzin
2018: CINDERELLA WAR - MARGARET KANE-ROWE
2017: The Yao of tao - Jesse Wang, Robert Berg, & Rajiv Shah
2016: Waylaid - Michael Koehler
2015: More Cow Bell - Andy Nellis
2014: Open Roads - Mimi Jeffries
2013: The Bravest, the Boldest - Moon Molson & Eric Fallen

Past Competition Jurors Include:

  • Allison Williams

  • David Edelstein

  • Raúl Esparza

  • Gabourey Sidibe

  • Franklin Leonard

  • Campbell Scott

  • Lili Taylor

  • Chris Kelly

  • Tom McCarthy

  • Diana Ossana

  • Bobby and Peter Farrelly

  • Philip Seymour Hoffman

  • Stanley Tucci

  • Rosie Perez

  • Kit Carson

  • Kate Erbland

  • Bob Fischer

  • Kate Lyn Sheil

  • Trey Edward Shults

  • Greg Mottola

  • Nancy Tenenbaum

  • Nancy Savoca

  • Jeremy Gerard

  • Gary Cosay

  • Lee Daniels

  • Anthony Swofford

  • Dana Harris

  • Rajendra Roy

  • Ty Burr

  • Kyle Patrick Alvarez

  • Eugene Jarecki

  • Stella Meghie