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UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television screenwriting graduate student Liz Buda was named the first-place winner at the 62nd Annual Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards on Monday, Oct. 30, earning the $15,000 first-place prize for Zero Hour, one of four finalist scripts in contention from UCLA TFT.

John Goldwyn, president, and Tony Goldwyn, vice president, of the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation, announced the winners during the evening ceremony at the UCLA Faculty Center.

Joey Siara received the second-place prize ($7,500) for his script Goslinged. In a tie, the $4,000 third-place prize went to Godwin Itai Jabangwe for his script R.O.V.E.R. and Eric Mallory Morgan for his script Hole in the Sky. Morgan is a repeat winner. His script Tonya won the first-place prize in 2016.

The awards were started by Samuel Goldwyn, Sr. in 1955 at UCLA to encourage young film, stage and television writers. The awards are open to all students at any University of California campus and screenplays, teleplays and stage plays are accepted. Previous Goldwyn Awards winners include filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola, screenwriters Pamela Gray, Colin Higgins and Eric Roth, and novelist Jonathan Kellerman, among others.

The judges for this year's Awards were Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment; Chris Selak, executive vice president and head of worldwide scripted television for Lionsgate; and actress, producer and activist Kerry Washington.

Former winners of the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards have written 893 films, television series and made-for-TV movies. These productions have won a total of 41 Academy Awards with 154 nominations, 74 Golden Globe Awards with 384 nominations, and 210 Emmys with 1,080 nominations. Many previous winners are also popular authors who, collectively, have published more than 164 books including many New York Times bestsellers.

Posted: October 31, 2017