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NY Metro Names Screenplay Winners
Mark A. Dahl's Art of War: Episode 1 has been named the Grand Prize Winner of the 2026 New York Metropolitan International Screenwriting Competition & Film Awards. Finalists and semifinalists have also been announced.
Grand Prize Winner
Art of War: Episode 1 -the Dress by Mark A. Dahl
Finalists
Shadow Self by Tom Zimmerman
Corporate America by Elora Ellis
Semifinalists
Routine by Apple Kim
Triangle Girls by Jane Ann Gonzalez
Coney Island by Kaenan Oliver & Dominic Oliver
Guardian Ahole by David Case
Viewing by John C. Fitch III
Millenium by Chloe Gruber
The Mask by Nilesh Yagnick
Gin and Sin by Scott Daniel Wheeler
By Way of Canarsie Rob Cuccurullo & Stacey Nation
Billy Daniels Straight by Allison Moir
Bleeding Beauties by Jason Parks
12:37 One Building by Michael John Fedun
Becca Goes Back Julie Kraut
Corkscrewed Juliet Meyer
Burnout by Izzie Mantese
Tooth Fairy by Dre Higginbotha
Updated: 06/06/2026
Additional Contest Info: New York Metropolitan Screenwriting Competition & Film Awards
ScriptLinks
Post Your Script Here!Eternal Blessings
A dying woman enters a time portal to confront her criminal past, only to realize that what she seeks is in the present--but getting back is proving harder than she thought.
Unknown Black Assailant
As the crack epidemic erupts across 1980s small-city America, a Black rookie detective investigating a string of gang murders in Little Rock, Arkansas uncovers a CIA-backed arms-for-drugs conspiracy—forcing him to choose between protecting his family and exposing a truth that could destroy him.
SETTLING THE BOOKS
A cautious investigator is none the less drawn in, along with four other heirs, by the reading of a billionaire rare book dealer’s will, they’re sealed in an airtight panic room, and with only four hours air, must solve the centuries-old mystery contained in the book ‘The Castilian Cypher’ in order to escape.
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.
Lab Rats
An anonymous organization uses an ***AI Bot*** to moderate a Focus Group on the topic of ***Fake***.
She Curses Like a Sailor
A thought-provoking view of women and cursing is entertained at this art opening in New York.
Lady Diogenes of the Shadow
Three retired ladies candidly discuss their bizarre neighbor over morning coffee.
Perfect Beau
A Brainiac Plain Jane clones her ideal boyfriend out of her gorgeous girlfriends' boyfriends' DNA for her university's senior class science project.
Cold Pepper
A law-abiding, church-going court stenographer becomes a one-woman vigilante 'offing' violent domestic abusers (and other pathetic souls) after their third offense.
Psychotic USA
A dramedy. A razor-sharp satiric view of the laughable state of modern psychiatric treatment as seen through the lens of four patients in an asylum.
