A Beautiful Day by Fredrik Colting has emerged as the winner of the 2016 ScreenCraft Short Screenplay Contest. It’s a simply rendered and devastating story about a trader's final phone conversation with a close friend as his office in the World Trade Center comes down around him on September 11th, 2001. It’s a powerful piece that tackles one of the most painful and horrific events in American history from a purely character-driven perspective. It certainly struck a chord with all of our judges.

We’re also proud to highlight as the runner-up Fetch by Sam Gill. It’s an unabashedly fun and outlandish interstellar comic strip that centers on a spaceship passenger and his dog, who both try to save each other when their ship experiences a catastrophic failure and must be evacuated. Fun and surprisingly emotional, this is an endlessly enjoyable short that speaks to the universal power of the bond between man and dog.

Both of these scripts are creative, focused, and well-executed, as are the following finalists that comprise the top ten:

• The Interview by Ande Case
• U.S. Navy Cine-Kodak by Stephen M. Hunt
• Time After Time by John Woodard
• They Fall Fast by Ed McCarthy
• The Flower Thief by Dani Bailes
• Quietus by Joshua Bartolome
• Inked In Blood by Paul Corricelli
• Echo by Drew Rogers

In addition to the ScreenCraft team, the judges included: Alice Kharoubi, Director of the Cannes Film Festival Short Film Programme; Filmmaker Benjamin Cleary, recipient of the 2016 Academy Award for Best Short Film; Alex Leibowich, creative executive at SnapChat; Michael Felker, the short film programmer for the Slamdance Film Festival; Rebecca Bourke, Managing Director and Executive Producer of the Irish production company Assembly; and Kamran Kamjou, executive at Disney’s Maker Studios, largest multi-channel network on YouTube.

The top two winners will receive cash prizes and consultations with contest judges, and the top ten finalists will receive a one-year subscription to WriterDuet Pro ScreenCraft Edition.