Black Ice Below by Peter Fraser has been selected as the winner of the 2016 ScreenCraft Sci-Fi Screenplay Competition. It's a cinematic, thoroughly entertaining sci-fi/action hybrid in the tradition of Predator and Big Trouble In Little China that boasts an impressively unique mythology, a strong emotional core, and inventive set pieces. Set in the Northwest Territories, the script centers on a hard-driving, smart-ass ice road trucker working for a shady diamond corporation who finds himself caught in a battle between his employers and an otherworldly creature living below the ice.

Artilect by Azhur Saleem has been deemed the runner-up. It's a tense and romantic sci-fi thriller that manages to be both futuristic and grounded, and both character-driven and classically plotted. Unfolding in a near future in which androids are slaves, the script centers on a man who reluctantly chooses to restart an underground railroad in order to help an old girlfriend and her android lover escape to freedom.

The following screenplays were selected as the competition finalists:

• Tectum by Raed Assar
• Decimator by Steven Snell
• Crashed by Rick Mele
• Black Marble by Chance Muehleck
• The Moonbeam Fisherman by John Dummer
• Galápagos by Lukas Hassel
• Only Child by Marcos Soriano
• The Gravity Spot by Tom Seidman

In addition to the ScreenCraft team, the judges included: Jeanette Francis, development executive at Atomic Monster, James Wan’s production company (SAW, DEATH SENTENCE, INSIDIOUS, THE CONJURING, FURIOUS 7), which has an output deal with Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema; Alden Dalia, development executive at Sony Pictures,he company behind ROBOCOP, ELYSIUM, PASSENGERS, STARSHIP TROOPERS, RESIDENT EVIL, GATTACA and more; and Fred Specktor, legendary talent and literary agent at CAA whose clients include Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Jeremy Irons, Dan Aykroyd, John-Henry Butterworth (writer: Edge of Tomorrow), and Stephen Hopkins (Predator 2, Lost in Space).

Grand prize winner Fraser will receive a $2,000 cash prize and hand-picked industry consultations, while Saleem will receive $500 and will have his script circulated and recommended to ScreenCraft's network of over 60 managers, agents, producers and development executives. All semifinalists will receive a 50% discount to WriterDuet Pro ScreenCraft Edition.

Congratulations to these winning writers and finalists, and thank you to our judges and to everyone who submitted projects; we read a number of remarkable screenplays. View the quarter-finalists and semi-finalists here.