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Academy Receives Record Number Of Entries For 2009 Nicholl Fellowships

A record 6,380 scripts are in contention for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 24th annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in screenwriting competition. Entries have come from all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., and from 46 other countries. The Academy will award up to five fellowships of $30,000 each in November.

The competition is open to screenwriters who have not earned more than $5,000 writing for film or television. Entry scripts must be the original work of a sole author or of exactly two collaborative authors. Entries must have been written originally in English. Adaptations and translated scripts are not eligible.

This year, scripts have come from across the United States as well as from Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bermuda, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Venezuela.

(more at link)

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Academy_Receives_Record_Number_Of_Entries_For_2009_Nicholl_Fellowships_20090706

Gee, I was hoping to reap the benefits of a bad economy and see less scripts entered.

Oh, well, it just goes to show you can't count on lack of entries. Your script has to be strong no matter what, since that will be its saving grace.

Great! That's a 0.078% chance of getting a fellowship!

What interesting about this year, is that every contest seems to have done huge numbers compared to previous years, my guess is you have a lot of people out of work and thus have more time to write.

That's a good conclusion.