Guillermo del Toro, Jane Campion, Jeymes Samuel Among Honorees For Final Draft Awards in Screenwriting

Nicole Holofcener, Danny Strong, Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson will also be recognized at a virtual ceremony on March 16, 2022

Final Draft Awards
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Guillermo del Toro, Jane Campion and Jeymes Samuel are among the honorees for this year’s Final Draft Awards recognizing achievements in screenwriting.

Also being recognized at the 17th annual awards ceremony will be Nicole Holofcener, Danny Strong, Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson. They’ll be honored at a virtual ceremony on March 16, 2022.

This year’s Final Draft Awards will break tradition and feature 15-minute conversations with each honoree with another esteemed writer about the process and challenges involved with the art of writing.

The Final Draft Hall of Fame Award will go to del Toro following his work on “Nightmare Alley.” Campion will receive the Trailblazer Award on behalf of “The Power of the Dog” and for recognition of a career that exudes excellence and who consistently tells compelling and bold stories.

Two Storyteller Awards will be presented to Nicole Holofcener, who co-wrote “The Last Duel,” and to Strong, who is behind the limited series “Dopesick” on Hulu. The award recognizes writers who consistently maintain a level of excellence and surpass expectations.

Additionally, Final Draft will present two New Voice Awards recognizing rising and vital talents in the industry. The New Voice Award (TV) will go to Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the husband-and-wife writer/producer team behind “Yellowjackets,” which just recently wrapped its first season on Showtime. The New Voice Award (Film) will be presented to Samuel, who is behind his debut film “The Harder They Fall” on Netflix.

“Storytellers have been revered throughout history for their ability to connect us,” Final Draft president Shelly Mellott said in a statement. “This year’s honorees are using their considerable talents to tell brave, audacious stories in imaginative ways that entertain, provoke and enlighten audiences. We could not be more proud to honor them and their outstanding work and the impact their stories have on our culture.”

The winners of the 2020 Big Break Screenwriting Contest, an annual screenwriting competition that launches careers and awards over $100,000 in cash and prizes, will also be celebrated at the event.  

Previous Final Draft Award winners include Quentin Tarantino, Nancy Meyers, Aaron Sorkin, Lawrence Kasdan, Paul Schrader, Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, Callie Khouri, Steven Zaillian, Robert Towne, Oliver Stone, and Sydney Pollack, among others. The Storyteller Award was introduced in 2021 and was presented to Steve McQueen and Sofia Coppola. The New Voice Award was introduced in 2017 and past recipients include Ramy Yousef, Steven Canals, Lulu Wang, Liz Hannah, Issa Rae, Boots Riley, Radha Blank and Tanya Saracho.

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