Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting

Deadlines & fees

• Submission DeadlinePassed
  20 Jul 2026America/Los_Angeles$100

Dates and fees checked against the official site 9 Aug 2026.

Key facts

Formats

Feature

Genres

Action, Adventure, Animation, Biography, Comedy, Crime, Documentary, Drama, Family, Fantasy, History, Horror, Music, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Sport, Thriller, War, Western

Page limit

125 pages

Required materials

Feature screenplay PDF with the writer's name removed (anonymous) · Logline (entries without a logline may be disqualified) · Correct writer and team details · Confirmation of rights to the material

Original feature screenplays only, no shorter than 80 and no longer than 125 pages, 12pt Courier, written originally in English. No pilots, no episodic and no adaptations of other people's work. Lifetime screenwriting earnings must be under 25,000 US dollars. Entrants must be human: a script containing AI-generated dialogue, characters or scene description is ineligible. You may not enter through both public portals in the same cycle. A script referred by a partner is barred from future consideration, while a non-referred public-portal script may be submitted up to three times in a ten year period.

Prizes

Up to five fellowships of US$35,000 each, paid over the fellowship year. Individualised Academy member mentorship and an invitation to Academy Awards week ceremonies and seminars. Fellows complete at least one original feature screenplay during the fellowship year.

Judging

Since March 2025 the Academy no longer accepts open submissions. Entry is by recommendation from an official partner, of which there were 55 for 2026-27, plus two public portals run by The Black List and the Writers Guild Foundation. Capacity collapsed from 5,500 direct entries under the old model to 2,500 and 2,000 public places plus roughly two scripts per institutional partner; only 101 scripts reached the Academy in the 2025-26 cycle. Reading is blind. The Writers Guild Foundation is explicit that its process is an evaluation, not a notes or coverage service, and the Nicholl reader comments that came with the old model are gone. Austin Film Festival became an official Nicholl partner for 2026-27. INTERNAL NOTE for verification: oscars.org/nicholl/about is two cycles stale, still showing the 2024 rules, fees and 5,500 cap; use the programme-details page, blcklst.com/nicholl and wgfoundation.org/nicholl instead.

Frequently asked questions