The Chinonye Chukwu Emerging Writer Award is given to a feature-length writer who has previously participated in an Athena Film Festival Writers Lab.
The winner receives a $10,000 grant that will assist them in the development of their feature-length script. In addition to the financial grant, the writer receives a year-long intensive writing fellowship and is provided with a creative advisor to serve as a mentor.
The award is named for award-winning writer and director Chinonye Chukwu. Her script Clemency appeared on the 2017 Athena List and she is an outstanding example for emerging writers. We are proud to have her as part of the Athena Film Festival family.
The Chinonye Chukwu Emerging Writer Award is sponsored by Christine A. Schantz.
2022 Chinonye Chukwu Emerging Writer Award Winners
Book of Genevieve by Kelsie Mason Ramos
Eager to live a life outside of her Catholic upbringing, a young woman soon realizes in order to find her dream queer community, she will have to leave the only world she’s ever known behind.
Laylayon by Nic Yulo
When a pragmatic retired nurse is forced to relocate her American-born family to her ancestral home in a cursed village buried deep within the Philippine jungle, she discovers that she must face the ghosts of her past or risk losing her children forever.
