The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the winners of the 2024 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, honoring four individual writers and one writing team. Each fellowship recipient will receive a $35,000 prize along with mentorship from an Academy member throughout the fellowship year. This year’s fellows will also participate in virtual seminars, a virtual meet-and-greet with the Nicholl Fellowships committee, and in-person networking events, including a celebration in Beverly Hills on October 29.
Established in 1985 in memory of screenwriter Don Nicholl through the support of Gee Nicholl, the Nicholl Fellowships aim to discover and nurture emerging screenwriting talent. Since its inception, the competition has awarded 186 fellowships, with this year’s competition drawing 5,500 scripts from writers in 80 countries.
2024 Nicholl Fellows
The 2024 Nicholl Fellows are (listed alphabetically by author):
- Alysha Chan and David Zarif (Los Angeles, CA) – Miss Chinatown: A young woman follows her mother’s legacy by competing in the Los Angeles Miss Chinatown pageant.
- Colton Childs (Waco, TX) – Fake-A-Wish: Two gay men, separated by forty years in age and bound to their small Texas town by cancer treatment, embark on a road trip to San Francisco to fulfill the Make-A-Wish they’re too old to qualify for.
- Charmaine Colina (Los Angeles, CA) – Gunslinger Bride: A young Chinese-American gunslinger goes undercover as a mail-order bride to evade the law and avenge her family’s murder.
- Ward Kamel (Brooklyn, NY) – If I Die in America: After his immigrant husband dies, an American man’s strained relationship with his Muslim in-laws reaches a tipping point as he attends the funeral they’ve arranged in the Middle East. This script is adapted from the SXSW Grand Jury-nominated short film of the same name.
- Wendy Britton Young (West Chester, PA) – The Superb Lyrebird & Other Creatures: A neurodivergent teen who envisions people as animated creatures competes for a life-changing art scholarship while her sister bends the rules to help her succeed.
2024 Nicholl Finalists
The competition also recognized five additional finalists:
- Kelly Beck-Byrnes – Where the Boxelders Grow
- Tate Hamilton – Delivery Girl
- Jamie Murphy – Lights over Idaho
- Adele Smaill – No Ghosts Tonight
- Justine Suh – Deep
Supporting New Screenwriters
The Academy does not acquire any rights to the works created by Nicholl fellows and remains uninvolved in commercial matters related to their screenplays. Recipients are expected to complete feature-length scripts during their fellowship year.
Chaired by Julie Lynn (Producers Branch), the 2024 Nicholl Fellowships Committee includes industry members from various Academy branches, such as Aldis Hodge and Caitríona Balfe (Actors Branch), Allison Anders (Directors Branch), Bruce Hendricks (Executives Branch), and Destin Daniel Cretton, Ehren Kruger, and Adele Lim (Writers Branch).
Celebrating Past Nicholl Fellows
Several past Nicholl Fellows made notable contributions to film and television in 2024, including Aaron Chung, who is a staff writer on Apple TV+’s WondLa, and Elizabeth Chomko, who directed Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints. Other notable projects include Die like a Man by Eric Nazarian, Interstate by Anthony Jaswinski, and The Acolyte on Disney+, produced and written by Jason Micallef.
For more details on the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, visit oscars.org/nicholl.
About the Academy
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences represents over 10,500 film industry professionals dedicated to celebrating and advancing the art of moviemaking. Best known for the Oscars®, the Academy leads in the conservation and exhibition of film-related materials and inspires audiences around the world through the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and the Margaret Herrick Library. The Academy continues to engage diverse audiences through exhibitions, screenings, and programs that reflect cinema’s past, present, and future.
