Kairos Prize 2026
Movieguide's faith and values prize wants uplifting features and pilots built on biblical principles, with one track for beginners and one for working professionals.
closes today
Goldenrod pages
Screenplay competitions
A competition takes a finished script and ranks it against everyone else who entered. Readers score the entries in rounds, and the prize at the top is money, a read by producers or managers, or both. Most charge an entry fee, and the fee usually rises as the deadlines pass.
18 listed. Late deadline Oct 20, 2026 is the soonest.
Weekly email alerts. New competitions and the deadlines coming up.
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13th Annual Search for New Blood Screenwriting Contest
A horror contest for features and pilots, run by Stage 32 for the 13th time.
closes tomorrow
CineStory TV Retreat & Fellowship 2027
This pilot contest leads to a five-day retreat in Idyllwild, California, in late April 2027, where the writers invited from the top rounds work one-on-one with industry mentors.
closes in 5 days
Fall 2026 WriteMovies Screenwriting Contest
WriteMovies, set up in Hollywood in 1999, runs a fall and a spring round.
closes in 5 days
ISA Fast Track Fellowship, Spring 2027 Season
Twice a year the International Screenwriters' Association picks two writers and sets up a week of online general meetings for each, this round in May 2027.
closes in 9 days
2026 First Look Project
Unlike Script Pipeline's main contests, this one scores concept and market appeal next to the writing, so it rewards high-concept features and pilots.
closes in 10 days
Shore Scripts Short Film Fund (Fall)
Twice a year Shore Scripts funds short films from scripts sent in by writers anywhere, with a USD 15,000 production grant for one script and USD 4,000 to help finish a film already shot.
closes in 10 days
第4回【ライチャレ】TBS NEXT WRITERS CHALLENGE 2026
This year the TBS project asks for one standalone 60-minute drama instead of a series pitch, written in Japanese by writers living in Japan.
closes in 11 days
令和8年度 橋田賞新人脚本賞 (Hashida Award for New Screenwriters, 2026)
Japanese-language writers can enter either a one-hour drama or a 15 to 20 minute short on the theme of family or something mysterious.
closes in 12 days
BlueCat Screenplay Competition 2027
BlueCat has been running since 1998 and returns written notes on every script entered, so a writer gets feedback whether or not the script places.
closes in 21 days
Creative Screenwriting UNIQUE VOICES Screenplay Competition (Season 12)
Only the last tier of this feature and pilot contest is left: scripts are due November 12, 2026, at 79 dollars.
closes in 23 days
11th Annual Feature Comedy Screenwriting Contest
Comedy features only, judged by named producers and executives from companies such as Whitewater Films and Shoot to Midnight.
closes in 29 days
第3回StellaJeanコンテスト 青春小説・シナリオ・プロット大賞 (3rd StellaJean Contest: youth novel, screenplay and plot)
Run on BookLive's StellaJean writing platform, this Japanese contest takes youth stories as a screenplay, a novel or only a plot, looking for material to adapt.
closes in 41 days
Scriptapalooza Screenplay Competition
Features are ranked in seven genres, from family to historical, and a separate shorts track has lower fees.
closes in 42 days
2026 Pitch Contest (Fall/Winter)
Writers with an idea and no draft yet can enter here.
closes in 56 days
2027 Screenwriting Contest (25th Annual Script Pipeline Screenwriting Contest)
Now in its 25th year, this feature contest is judged only by Script Pipeline's own development staff, with no volunteer or intern readers.
closes in 71 days
2027 TV Writing Contest (20th Annual Script Pipeline TV Writing Contest)
For original pilots and unproduced indie series, this contest reaches its 20th edition in 2027 and turns away specs of shows already on air. Every round is read by Script Pipeline staff.
closes in 71 days
Euroscript Screen Story Competition
Instead of a full screenplay, this contest asks for the whole story told in a prose summary of up to 750 words plus ten pages of script, and every entrant gets written notes on the summary.
closes in 162 days