The initiative organized by actor, publisher and Nollywood activist, Lawrence Onuzulike, will see the top 20 screenwriter submissions qualify for a N1 million grand prize and a one-year screenwriting deal with Aforevo.
The presiding judges include industry veterans Clarion Chukwura, Segun Arinze, Victor Okhai, DGN Chairman and Yinka Ogun, SWGN Chairman.
Speaking at a press conference, Onuzulike said: “The Nollywood Screenwriting Competition was created to reward hard-working screenwriters and highlight the pivotal roles they play in filmmaking. In Nollywood, there is this general feeling that screenwriters, although they play very important roles in cinema, are not well recognized and rewarded in the Nigerian film industry.
“Therefore, the Nollywood Screen Writing Contest (NSWC) aims to correct this by highlighting the pivotal roles played by screenwriters in film production and in the film industry as a whole.
“The media campaign and the razzmatazz that will surround the competition will not only shed light on the screenwriters, but also make them, for once, the focal point of an industry often dominated by actors, directors and producers.
“This is a one-of-a-kind project and one that has never been done on this scale in Nigeria.”
To enter, contestants must submit the first twenty scenes from their scripts, after which judges will select the top 20 submissions.
Competitors with the selected submissions will then be required to submit between 100 and 135 scenes of their works, after which the judges will choose the top three scripts.
The winner will take home the N1m grand prize, and the winning script will be made into a movie that includes a one-year screenwriting deal with Aforevo.
