๐€๐“๐“๐„๐๐“๐ˆ๐Ž๐ ๐€๐‹๐‹ ๐’๐‚๐‘๐„๐„๐๐–๐‘๐ˆ๐“๐„๐‘๐’! ๐€๐‘๐„ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐‘๐„๐€๐ƒ๐˜ ๐“๐Ž ๐’๐‡๐Ž๐–๐‚๐€๐’๐„ ๐˜๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐“๐€๐‹๐„๐๐“ ๐Ž๐ ๐€ ๐†๐‹๐Ž๐๐€๐‹ ๐’๐“๐€๐†๐„?

LOOK NO FURTHER THAN THE ๐‚๐‡๐ˆ๐‚๐€๐†๐Ž ๐’๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐๐“ ๐€๐–๐€๐‘๐ƒ๐’, the premier ๐ˆ๐Œ๐ƒ๐-๐ช๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง that celebrates the finest screenwriters worldwide.

At CHICAGO SCRIPT AWARDS, we're not just searching for screenplays โ€“ we're hunting for masterpieces to offer to the world's independent film community. Directors, producers, investors, and productions alike are eagerly seeking scripts that captivate audiences with big ideas, unforgettable characters, gripping dialogue, and resonant themes.

But here's the secret: screenwriting is more than just storytelling. It's about branding. The best screenwriters have a distinct style or flair that sets them apart in the industry. Whether it's crafting complex characters, crafting intricate plots, or weaving dialogue that sings, our goal is to spotlight writers who excel in their chosen craft.

Chicago Script Awards is proud to be a part of the ๐ˆ๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐’๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ง๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ' ๐€๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐œ๐ข๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, working tirelessly to elevate the profile of talented writers worldwide. By participating in our competition, writers have the chance to submit their feature scripts to categories that highlight their strengths. Each submission is meticulously reviewed by readers from top Hollywood talent agencies and management firms, providing invaluable feedback and exposure.

๐Œ๐„๐„๐“ ๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐‰๐”๐‘๐Ž๐‘๐’
๐๐š๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐† ๐€๐ง๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฐ๐ฌ is an English screenwriter, who in 2005 Paul established international television production and media sales company ๐†๐ฅ๐จ๐›๐š๐ฅ๐–๐š๐ญ๐œ๐ก, working with a host of multi-national companies at CEO level. He has interviewed and collaborated with senior government officials. Paul established ๐†๐ฅ๐จ๐›๐š๐ฅ๐–๐š๐ญ๐œ๐ก ๐…๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฌ in 2013 to produce a slate of feature films, from lower budget comedies and psychological horror features to larger budget films aimed at the North American studio market. He completed six films in 2016/17 which have all made profits for investors and has a slate of nine high profile projects in ๐๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐Ž๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ซ ๐–๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ /๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ including three more projects with Tom Keneally (Man Booker Prize winning author of Schindler's List, later and 7 Oscar Winning Spielberg films). Paul's two most recent films have both won multiple international awards. Anglo-Indian film ๐๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ž ๐Œ๐š๐ง and Canadian co-production Juliana & the Medicine Fish have won 60 international awards between them, with 5 additional nominations. He is also a multi-award-winning writer in his own right, with writing projects that he has contributed to or written himself, achieving 30 wins across four screenplays. These projects include Irish epic The Great Hunger, gangster/crime movie Gorger, historical drama An Island Apart, and coming-of-age/gang/drama project On Par.

๐‘๐จ๐›๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐จ ๐‘๐จ๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐จ is awards-winning Italian screenwriter. He has a bachelor's degree in Cinema, television and multimedia production at Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna and He is currently attending a master's degree in Production and Screenwriting at La Sapienza - University of Rome.

๐‚๐ก๐ฎ๐œ๐ค ๐‰๐จ๐ก๐ง๐ฌ๐จ๐ง is a producer, director, writer and action film actor. He is also the founder of Quiet Flame Productions (Tokyo) and Quiet Flame Films (CA) and over his 20 year career, he has worked internationally on over 100 films, television shows, video games and commercials in Japan, the US, Thailand, and the Philippines.

๐Ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐š ๐‚๐ก๐ž๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐š is award-winning Ukrainian screenwriter. She was born and raised in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Interpreter and teacher by profession, in 2014 she set up the Language School, creating her own method of teaching English through movies and screenplays.
Having an idea of a language-learning sitcom and animated family movie, she enrolled in screenwriting school.

Previous winners of our competition were well-know screenwriters such as ๐‡๐ž๐ง๐ซ๐ฒ ๐Œ๐ฒ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ (United States), ๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ ๐“๐ซ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ฒ (United States), ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ž ๐€๐ฅ๐ž๐ฑ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ (United States), ๐Œ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐๐š๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ค ๐‰๐จ๐ก๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ง (United Kingdom), ๐‰๐จ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐•๐ข๐œ๐ค๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ (United Kingdom), ๐‰๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ข๐š๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ (United Kingdom), ๐Œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐š ๐Œ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐‘๐š๐ง๐ž๐ฒ (United States), ๐‹๐ฒ๐ง๐ง ๐•๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง (United States), ๐‘๐ฒ๐š๐ง ๐‚๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ (United States) and others.

In the dynamic world of film production, discovering new talent is paramount. That's why we've launched an innovative online screenwriter's pitch repository that provides a platform where screenwriters can pitch their work to film directors and producers looking for a compelling story.

With a diverse collection of over ๐Ÿ•๐ŸŽ ๐“๐€๐‹๐„๐๐“๐„๐ƒ ๐’๐‚๐‘๐„๐„๐๐–๐‘๐ˆ๐“๐„๐‘๐’ already on board, our platform is bursting with creative energy and potential. You can see the synopsis here:

https://chicagoscriptawards.com/i-am-a-producer

๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐Ÿ“๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ ๐ฌ๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ง๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ง๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐Ÿ•๐ŸŽ+ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐.

Want to learn more about how you can sell your script? Explore the "๐–๐€๐๐“ ๐“๐Ž ๐’๐„๐‹๐‹ ๐˜๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐’๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐๐“?" category for full details.

For the winners in the categories of Feature Script, Television Script, Short Script and Super Short Script, prizes in the form of services await: an Interview (typically valued at $99 USD) and redistributes over $๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ.๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ ๐”๐’๐ƒ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ง๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ.

Don't miss this opportunity to make your mark in the world of screenwriting. ๐’๐”๐๐Œ๐ˆ๐“ ๐˜๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐’๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐๐“ ๐“๐Ž ๐‚๐‡๐ˆ๐‚๐€๐†๐Ž ๐’๐‚๐‘๐ˆ๐๐“ ๐€๐–๐€๐–๐‘๐ƒ๐’ ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐‹๐„๐“ ๐˜๐Ž๐”๐‘ ๐“๐€๐‹๐„๐๐“ ๐’๐‡๐ˆ๐๐„ ๐€๐๐ƒ ๐–๐ˆ๐ ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐€๐Œ๐Ž๐๐ƒ ๐๐”๐ˆ๐‹๐‹.

The main prize is a ๐ƒ๐ˆ๐€๐Œ๐Ž๐๐ƒ ๐๐”๐ˆ๐‹๐‹
๐Ÿฅ‡ DIAMOND QUILL: Feature Screenplay
๐Ÿฅ‡ DIAMOND QUILL: Short Script
๐Ÿฅ‡ DIAMOND QUILL: Television Script - Pilot

This name evokes the image of a rare and valuable jewel, which symbolizes quality, brilliance and uniqueness in the field of screenwriting. The Diamond Quill presents an award for the best script that stands out for its value and elegance.

ADDITIONAL CATEGORIES
โญ๏ธ ๐ƒ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐›๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐€๐ฐ๐š๐ซ๐: Want To Seel Your Screenplay?
โœ๏ธ Best Super Short Script (under 10 pages), โœ๏ธ Best First Time Screenwriter (Short), โœ๏ธ Best First Time Screenwriter (Feature), โœ๏ธ Best Drama Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Comedy Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Horror Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Thriller Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best LGBTQ Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Female Screenwriter. โœ๏ธ Best Scifi Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Young Screenwriter (under 30y.), โœ๏ธ Best Chicago Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best American Screenplay
โœ๏ธ Best Foreign Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Psychological Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Historical Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best War Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Crimi Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Fantasy Screenplay
โœ๏ธ Best Action Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Romantic Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Western Screenplay, โœ๏ธ Best Stage Play, โœ๏ธ Best Story, โœ๏ธ Best Book

Each winner will receive a digital diploma + special official laurels

1. All scripts must be in English.
2. Multiple entries from the same submitter are accepted.
4. The decision of the festival selection committee will be final.
5. Scripts that are submitted must be the entrantโ€™s original work and shall not infringe on any copyrights or any other rights of any third parties.
6. The organizers reserve the right not to award any or all of the prizes.
7. Organizers have the right to use film posters or your photos on public social networks to promote your project and our festival.
8. By submitting your project, you agree to receive marketing emails from our partner festivals.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Susannah Temko

    Thank you so much for the Official Selection of 'Dead Cat'. So exciting to be included alongside so many other fantastic writers!

    February 2025
  • I was delighted to have my movie, The Rabble, selected for this fascinating festival.

    January 2025
  • On Oct 21, 2024, I received email from you stating, "We have wonderful news. 'Agwajiing the Sanatorium' became the winner for Chicago Script Awards 2024.โ€

    On Oct 29 of this year, I sent an email: โ€œThank for the Honorable Mention award for Agwajiing. Both Winona and I are pleased. However, the certificate does not mention Winona, without whom there is no story, no screenplay. Winona is a Native American activist and writer, an enrolled member of the White Earth Reservation.โ€

    On Dec 16, you emailed enthusiastically asking us to submit โ€˜Agwajiing the Sanatoriumโ€™ AGAIN, which we naturally decline.

    You have insulted Winona (and myself as adaptor), whom you insist on not crediting properly. Adding to the injury, you show no contest memory of our original submission of the SAME SCREENPLAY you enthusiastically ask us to submit again!

    This amnesia and complete lack of respect for Native America forces us to decline the so called โ€˜Honorable Mention.โ€™ Please remove mention of same from your website and social media.

    Get it together, please.

    December 2024
  • Mokhless Al-Hariri

    Many thanks on behalf of the entire film team!!!
    We are thrilled that our award-winning film, โ€œChanting of the Dunesโ€, was selected to be part of the festival.

    December 2024
  • Angelina Yue

    So honored to be in the Official Selection.
    Thanks for your help and encouragement.
    Hopefully I will land an agent soon.

    December 2024