• Action/ Adventure
• Comedy/ Romantic Comedy
• Drama/ Period/ Biopic
• Family/ Animated/ Musical
• Science-Fiction/ Fantasy
• Thriller/ Horror

• 1 Hour TV Pilots
• 1/2 Hour TV Pilots
• TV Writing Samples (Shows must currently be airing new episodes in the United States)
• Short Scripts (under 30 pages)

• The Fresh Voices Spotlight Awards run concurrently with the screenplay competition and are specifically designed to reward special acheivement in screenwriting.
• Each first round judge has an opportunity to nominate a script for a Spotlight Award if they deem it eligible. If a script advances to the second round with a nomination it forms the long list of nominees. The long list is not published or announced.
• If a script receives a second and third nomination in the subsenquent rounds of judging, it becomes eligible for the short list. The Short List (5-10 screenplays per award) are announced at the same time as we announce the Screenplay Competition Finalists.
• One winner will be selected for each Award and will be announced at the same time as we announce the Competition Winners. 

Judging Process

• All material is read by a small group of in-house readers to ensure a consistent judging process.
• All entrants will have the option to receive their 1st round Judge's Scorecard & Evaluation.
• All submissions are grouped by genre and judged according to the specific merits of the genre.
• There are four phases of judging and one judge never reads the same material twice. 
• Quarter Finalists represent the top 15-20% highest scoring screenplays in each category.
• The top 15-20% are determined by the number of contestants per category and average score.
• All Quarter Finalists will have an opportunity to resubmit a more recent draft of their screenplay.
• A Second round determines Semi-Finalists from the highest combined scores per category.
• The third round of reading will determine Finalists in each category.
• A fourth and final round will decide the Winner and 2 Honorable Mentions per category.
• A Grand Prize Winner will be selected from the 1st place Winners in each category.

Judge's Feedback

Rules & Eligibility

• Screenplays should be submitted with a title page. Name and other personal information are optional.
• The title of the PDF document must be saved in the format (Screenplay Title by Author First and Last Name) For Example - A Beautiful Mind by Akiva Goldsman).
• Submissions are accepted via electronic submission only.
• Entries must be received on or before the deadline and payment made in full at time of the submission.
• All submitted material must be original, and all rights must be owned by the entrant at the time of submitting.
• Adaptations are only eligible if the underlying rights are owned by the entrant, or the work is in the public domain.
• Material written by a writing team must be submitted by one of the writers with consent of the other.
• If a writing team is chosen as a winner, prizes will be distributed to the person who entered the project. Each team is responsible for dividing or sharing the prize package.
• Page length: Feature Screenplays no longer than 130 pages . TV Pilots longer than 75 pages.

• Scripts must be saved and submitted as a PDF document.
• All unproduced screenplays written in English are eligible.
• Each applicant will receive an e-mail notifying them of the competition results.
• Substitutions of corrected pages or new drafts of the entered material are not allowed unless formally resubmitted.
• All ages from anywhere in the world are eligible.
• All material submitted to other competitions or contests are eligible.
• There are no requirements as to when the material was written.
• The material submitted must not be published or produced prior to entering the competition.
• Any submitted work that is published or produced between the time of submission and the end of the judging period will no longer be eligible.
• Previous Grand Prize Winners and employees of Fresh Voices, past or present, are not eligible. 

•  Entrants may resubmit a new draft of their script to the competition at any time prior to the final deadline for a flat resubmission fee of $50.
• To resubmit, please follow the same process as when you made the original submission. When you go to pay, select Resubmit from the drop down menu to be charged the resubmission fee.
• All resubmissions will be judged according to the same process as all other submissions and scored accordingly.
• Resubmissions do not replace the original submission. All scores remain in the running until the end of the first round of scoring. At the conclusion of the first round, it is possible that neither score is good enough to advance, one of the scores is good enough, or both of your scores are good enough to advance to the next round, in which case the higher of the two scores will stand in the second round.
• At the conclusion of the first round of judging, all advancing Quarter-Finalists will have the option to resubmit a new draft of their screenplay for consideration in later rounds of the competition.