Santa Barbara International Names Contest Winners
The Linguist by Maggie Tsavaris has been named the Best Screenplay Winner of The Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards. The Best TV and Best Short Script winners have also been announced.
Winner: Best Screenplay
Maggie Tsavaris
"The Linguist"
A richly layered blends of a political thriller with the emotional resonance of an intimate character study, inspired by real-world geopolitics with a complex and deeply human protagonist.
Winner: Best TV Script
Erin Donovan
"Todos Santos"
A single mom who just wants to send her kid to a good college becomes a wanted criminal hiding out in a picturesque Mexican town. The question remains: Who do you have to fuck over to get your kid into Juilliard?
Winner: Best Short Script
Melissa Brides
"Room B"
In the aftermath of a school shooting a group of parents wait for news of their children's fate. As they come together they are unaware that one of them is the shooter's mother. Out of the tragedy come moments of love, support and in the end, compassion.
Updated: 05/09/2025
Additional Contest Info: The Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!Saber-Toothed Cat
A little girl's mother wants to rid the family of her daughter's beloved undomesticated cat until the mother faces the jaws of a vicious dog.
The Pixie Detective
A pixie detective wannabe finds something quite unusual about her black cat when she stumbles on an illegal operation at the abandoned shipyard next door.
LAST SHOPPER STANDING
A bitterly divorcing couple competes in a deadly game of survival on Christmas Eve when a disgruntled big-box store manager locks them inside with five other players and stages a twisted competition as punishment for their consumer misdeeds.
ISTANBUL CROSSING
A gay Syrian refugee in Istanbul, while juggling dangerous smuggling operations for both the CIA and Islamic State, falls in love with, and must decide between, two men who offer him very different futures.
AT THE MERCY OF FAITH
A former preacher, haunted by the tragic rape/murder of his twin sister, spirals into darkness as supernatural forces, both angelic and demonic, wage war for his soul.
DOWN WITH DAD
Three-time “Man of the Year” Dave McNabb tries to teach his teenage son Lincoln a simple life lesson: do good things, good things happen.
PEEP
When two teen boys spying on a beautiful neighbor witness her brutal murder at the hands of a rising local politician, their attempt to expose the crime through blackmail spirals into a deadly game that puts their families—and their own lives—at risk.
in connection
As Vietnam tears apart his family and identity, a working-class teen turned draft target becomes an FBI pawn and risks everything to escape a nation demanding sacrifice he no longer believes in.
Whirlabout
A New York actor returns to his decaying hometown to care for his father, who is riding a downwards Alzheimer's spiral.
ARMED:STAY
Trapped in her home with a wounded fugitive, a widow frozen by grief must choose between hiding from life or reentering it to save her fractured family.
