The Annual Script Award was created in 1995 by Claddagh Films in
order to promote short film scriptwriting. After a lapse of sev-
eral years, the popular award was reintroduced this year and of-
fers a cash prize of 350 Euro to the best short script.
The winner of the 2003 Annual Script Award is Deirdre Cartmill
from Belfast. Her script, Honk If You Love Jesus tells the story
of Siobhan, who has one weekend to persuade her single, flighty
sister to take care of her 5 year old daughter. In addition, her
script Haven Street was also short-listed.
In order to arrive at a winner, the judges short-list all the
submitted scripts down to a top ten list. From this list, the
winner is selected. The standard this year has been exceptional-
ly high, making the selection very difficult for the judges. For
the first time also, three writers; Bill Murphy (a previous fi-
nalist), Damien O'Connor and Deirdre Cartmill all had more than
one script in the top ten.
Screenplays need not be in development or production, as the
award is not intended as a production grant, but is based purely
on the merit of the submission. The competition is open to
scripts of all nationalities, but limited in length to 30 pages
or less.
The 2004 competition opens on January 1st of next year. More in-
formation on the competition, including the rules, the list of
previous winners and the finalists is available from the Claddagh
Films web site www.claddagh.ie/awards.