Nickerbacher by Terry John Barto has been announced as the winner of the 2017 ScreenCraft Family-Friendly Screenplay Contest. Repeatedly praised for its unique premise and strong character dynamics, it is an innovative story of a dragon who moves to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a comedian and paves the way for civil rights.

We’re also excited to highlight Parents by Bruce Kalish as our runner-up. It’s an engaging script, praised by the jury for its distinctive voice. It tells the story of three too-old-to-be-adopted orphans getting one last chance with a pair of naive androids.

Both of these screenplays have four-quadrant appeal and voice that consistently jumps off the page. Congratulations to these writers! We can't wait to follow their promising careers.

Here are the well-crafted finalists that comprise the rest of the top ten finalists from this year's submissions:

• A Better Place by Katterina Powers
• What the Fox Said by James Stewart
• Rescue Dog by Rich Orstad
• Flora and the Flabbs by Donald Cameron
• Tug by Eli Elbogen
• Riff Raff by Chris Desmond
• Zero by Aarthi Ramanathan
• Pirate Queen by Carole Whang Schutter

In addition to the ScreenCraft team, the judges included:

Kyle Benn, development executive at Lionsgate Entertainment, the studio behind The Hunger Games, Alpha & Omega, Ender’s Game, and more beloved family films.

Hae-Sook Song, executive at Blue Sky Studios, the studio behind such celebrated family film franchises as Ice Age, Rio, Epic and The Peanuts Movie.

Heather Overton, Programming and Development Executive at Hallmark Movie Channel and Crown Media, the single largest producer of family-friendly movies and TV series in the English language featuring nearly one hundred new titles every year.

And Josh Nadler, Director of Development at Sony’s Affirm Films, the studio behind Soul Surfer, Courageous, Miracles From Heaven and more successful and acclaimed faith-friendly films!

Congratulations to all of the finalists and thanks to everyone who submitted. Keep writing! View the quarterfinalists and semifinalists here.

The top two winners will receive cash prizes and consultations with literary managers.

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