Tampa Bay Screams Horror Convention+Film Festival will celebrate our 10th Anniversary in 2026. Enter your Horror, Sci-Fi, or Suspense Thriller movie for a chance to screen it at our event and to be considered for awards. The next Tampa Bay Screams horror convention+Film Festival will have distribution representatives, fans, and celebrity guests. The perfect atmosphere to publicize your cinematic production - consider purchasing a vendor table to build awareness among a targeted audience of horror movie fans.

Awards & Prizes

Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director, Best Special F/X
*For full-length and short films*

2026 Award Winners:

Best Feature Film The Clownjuring - Jody Shane Dean, Director
Best Short Film The One Who Waits Below - Joel G. Robinson, Director
Best Actor - Feature Film Fernando A. Tirado - Perdition
Best Actor - Short Film Jake Sweezer - Oneirataxia
Best Actress in a Feature Film Jewel Bressler + Bonnie Jean Tyer (Tie) - Blue Murder
Best Actress in a Short Film Angela Morris - The Widow
Best Directors - Feature Film Steve Robert Balewicz + M.c. Nowell - The American Veteran Sleep Experiment
Best Director - Short Film Angelina Phoenix - Oneirataxia
Best Special Effects - Feature Film Kaisa Neal + Izzy Romero-Castaneda - Orgy of the Dead 2
Best Special Effects - Short Film Wendy Feliciano + Rowena Hoover - They're Here
Best Cult Movie Beast Mode - Joel D. Wynkoop, Director

Rules & Terms

The rules are: Your full-length film or short must be Horror/Sci-Fi/ Thriller or Exploitation.
No waivers!

Short: Less than 40 min.
Feature: 41 min. or longer. Max length: 150 min. (2.5 hrs.)
14 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Kylee Nicole Peck

    Loved the con portion to the festival. Definitely met a lot of creatives. I just wish I had a DvD player to purchase and watch DvDs. Or more options to buy for streaming. Love supporting filmmakers. Was a true honor to be selected to premiere “Pool Drain” short at the film festival

    May 2026
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  • Joel G. Robertson

    Absolutely honored to have our movie, THE ONE WHO WAITS BELOW, chosen as the winner of Best Short at the 2026 Tampa Bay Screams! Andy Lalino puts together a great con and the FilmMaker Berserk folks including festival judge Adam, have created a great film festival! Definitely worth submitting to and attending!

    May 2026
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  • Matthew Speak

    So honored to have On Halloween Night screened at this event. It looks like a really fun convention with some nice celebrity guests. Wish I could have attended.

    January 2025
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  • Michael Dorfman

    Absolutely honored to have our short film BEYOND THE BLEED LIMIT selected to screen at this years festival. Although we weren't able to attend, we followed along with all the detailed updates on social media. Excellent communication, fantastic films and incredible filmmakers. Highly recommend!!

    July 2024
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  • Karolina Morrongiello

    We had a blast. What a great event Sean the host was awesome 👌 Karolina took best female actress for her new film " The American Ripper " coming soon here in 2023 through ITN films

    August 2023
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