I'm extremely grateful to announce that my screenplay SALK has been selected as the winner of the 2009 Student Screenplay Competition sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. As the winning entry from Carnegie Mellon University, this award comes with a $25,000 prize. SALK is the true story of the life of Jonas Salk and his quest to find a Polio vaccine.

Salk lived and worked here in Pittsburgh, and I immediately felt a kinship with him. I became fascinated with Polio and mid-Century vaccination sciences, and that sparked a separate project that went in a totally different direction. It eventually became my award winning play PARADISE KEY, which suggests an alternate history of the discovery of the vaccine.

UPDATE: Check out the web site Science and Film, sponsored by the Museum of the Moving Image, for more information about the Sloan awards and the Sloan community. They also have a synopsis for SALK listed under the Student Film Awards section.

Labels: Awards and Honors, Salk, Screenplays

OK, I'm really excited to announce that my full length play PARADISE KEY has been named the winner of the 2010 Trustus Theatre Playwrights Festival. This is a national competition for full length plays, that receives hundreds of entries each year. I knew I was a finalist a few weeks ago, and now I've been told I won! That means they will have a reading of the play this fall (August 15, 2009), I believe, and then a full production next fall.

Check back for dates, times, more info, and more jubilation!

Labels: Awards and Honors, Paradise Key

Wow. I am thrilled to announce that LOSING SLEEP has won the 2008 Helford Prize from Jacksonville University. This prestigious award carries with it the possibility of production at JU, as well a $10,000 cash prize. Following up the New York reading, LOSING SLEEP continues to get great responses, and I'm always pleased with how well the piece is received. Hopefully this new award will underscore the power of this story to reach all types of audiences.

UPDATE: Since this prize was announced, a few press outlets have picked up the story:

• North Florida Daily News
• The State Newspaper
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Labels: Awards and Honors, Losing Sleep