Screenwriting Contest Results (2024-2025)

Winners

1st Place: Kaia Yuan - “Running The Race”

In a dystopian world where endless running earns survival and slowing down means death, a top-ranked teenager befriends a wide-eyed boy whose unwavering belief in another way—a way of rest, faith, and freedom- challenges everything he thought he knew about life, purpose, and eternity.

I believe stories have immense power to explain complicated concepts or to even change people's minds - I think it's no coincidence that Jesus often used parables to explain things to his audience. For me, storytelling is so much more than just a form of art; it's a bridge that connects our hearts, minds, and experiences to the larger world around us.

2nd Place: Hayden Grooms - “The Complexity of Bitterness”

Haunted by a friendship shattered by betrayal and religious tension, a teenage girl must confront her grief, spiritual identity, and inner bitterness—ultimately faced with a choice between vengeance and redemption in a surreal battle between darkness and light.

I started writing my first screenplay when I finished watching a television series called Sorry for Your Loss. I had never watched a show that encompassed the realities of grief and depression in such a real and raw way. I felt seen. What I love most about storytelling is allowing the characters to be able to relate to an audience in such a reachable way. With just the power of our words, whether spoken or written, we have the power to touch an individual into realizing that they're not alone.

3rd Place: Justice Johnson - “The Camcorder”

When a teenage boy finds an old camcorder during a family move, it leads him to rediscover a magical summer friendship with the mysterious boy who once lived in his attic, blurring the lines between memory, imagination, and growing up.

Storytelling is a huge part of what makes the world work. It's a way to understand things, to connect with others, but also to teach some sort of lesson or moral (even Jesus told stories). Storytelling is special because that's what humans are: a bunch of stories throughout time, and I really love that.

4th Place: Owen Chase - “Wander”

A young nomad wrestles with spiritual doubt and longing as he journeys with the Wanderlings, faithful travelers who follow God across the world, learning that true home and rest can only be found in relationship with the Father.

Humans have valued stories greatly and relate to them in very deep ways. They are part of our histories, our cultures, our childhoods, our adult lives, and so much more. I have many times asked myself: Why? Why do we understand the medium of storytelling in a greater way than any other? The only answer that I have been able to come up with is that God made us in this way.