After sustained and intensive deliberations, we're proud to announce Grief by Dante Russo as the winner of the 2015 ScreenCraft Short Screenplay Contest. It's an imaginative, cinematic and emotionally engaging story about a tube sock separated from his matching counterpart after being accidentally left behind at a laundromat by a father and his little girl, and his quest to be reunited with his family. It's a simple story with a universal central conflict that is earnestly told and even heartbreaking, and it's easy to imagine it having four-quadrant appeal. It certainly struck a chord with our judges.

We're also proud to highlight as the runner-up Away From The Slough by Danielle Bárcena. It's a hard-hitting domestic drama with overt, visceral horror elements that chronicles a long-suffering thirtyish woman's struggle to escape the sheer tyranny, abuse and control of her monstrous brother with the help of a compassionate grocery store clerk. The writing is urgent, wrenching and meticulously rhythmic, and the script succeeds in freshly exploring its subject matter.

These scripts are exceptionally different and exceptionally well-crafted, as are the following finalists that comprise the top ten:

3. Dive by Andrew Zeko + Kris Sundberg

4. An Exemplary Citizen by Josh Billig & Chris Martin

5. Flicker by Bruce Scivally

6. The Tinwife by Travis Neufeld

7. When You Wish by Troy Harvey Graham

8. Picking Blueberries by Amanda Glassman

9. After Billy by David Widdicombe

10. Crete and Barrel by Mike Revenaugh

In addition to the ScreenCraft team, the judges included: Alice Kharoubi, Director of the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Programme; Marc Hustvedt, Founder of the annual Streamy Awards and Tubefilter.com; Jeremy Boxer, Creative Director at Vimeo and Co-founder and Director of the Vimeo Festival and Awards; Ari Lubet, Literary Manager at 3Arts Entertainment; Kamran Kamjou, Senior Director, Maker Studios (Disney); and Michael Felker, Slamdance Short Film Programmer.

The top two winners will receive cash prizes and consultations with literary managers, the top five finalists will receive development notes on their material, and the top ten finalists will receive a one-year subscription to WriterDuet Pro.

Congratulations to these winning writers and finalists, and thank you to our judges and to everyone who submitted projects; we were buoyed by the exceptional quality of the shorts we received in this inaugural contest. View the quarter-finalists and semi-finalists here.