The 57th annual Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards, recognizing excellence in dramatic writing, were announced Friday by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., president of the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation.
The first place winner is Alaric Alexander Smeets (UCLA ) for the screenplay "Life on Mars," George Larkin (UC Berkeley) in second place for the play "The Bastard Son of William Shakespeare," and Stephen Wolf (UCLA) in third place for the TV pilot "Emperor Watson."
The first honorable mention went to Kathleen Coggshall (UC San Francisco) for "Seventeen," and the second honorable mention went to Marissa Matteo (UCLA) for "Lions and Men."
The Goldwyn Awards carry cash prizes of $15,000 for first prize, $7,500 for second prize, $4,000 for third prize, and $2,000 and $1,000 for honorable mentions.
This year's judges were producers Debra Martin Chase and Mike Medavoy, and Betsy Sharkey, a Los Angeles Times Film Critic.
Past winners of the Goldwyn Awards include Allison Anders, Francis Ford Coppola, Pamela Gray, Colin Higgins, Eric Roth and the novelist Jonathan Kellerman.
"We are very proud of this award and the extraordinary body of work produced by our former winners," said Samuel Goldwyn, Jr.
The awards –which are open to undergraduate and graduate students in the University of California system — were started at UCLA in 1955 by Samuel Goldwyn, Sr. to encourage young film, stage, and television writers.
