HALL OF FAME

2026 AWARD WINNERS

  • Best Film – JUNKIE
  • Best Documentary – GUESS WHERE YOU’RE GOING
  • Best Short Film – Ghost in the Glass
  • Best Maryland Film – Invasion ’53
  • Best Director – William Means (JUNKIE)
  • Best Performance – Rocky Shay (JUNKIE)
  • Best Cinematography – Dennis Robert Thomas (Ghost in the Glass)
  • Best Editing – Hamzah Saif (GUESS WHERE YOU’RE GOING) 

SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

The screenwriters who have listed their premise and email are open to being contacted.

Quarterfinalists

  • I’m Possible by Evan Balkan
    • Despite being born to an alcoholic mother and growing up homeless on the streets of West Baltimore, Richard White strives to become one of the very few African Americans to enter the rarefied and cutthroat world of the classical symphony orchestra. evanlbalkan@gmail.com
  • True Love Ways by Chris Hart
    • Charlie and Valerie, and Brenda and Ike, two young couples living in 1950s New York City, face a crisis when Charlie and Valerie’s baby dies in an accident. chartbaltimore@gmail.com
  • First Call Outs by Cheri Marmarosh
    • When a woman is diagnosed with incurable cancer, her world is instantly reshaped by fear, grief, and the loss of control over her own body. Once confident and self-directed, she finds herself overwhelmed by uncertainty and the psychological toll of living with a terminal diagnosis. Searching for ways to cope, she commits to intensive psychotherapy while forming an unexpected friendship with a bodybuilding coach. marmaros@gwu.edu
  • Spectre 7 by John Martinez
    • Haunted by war and bound by loyalty, an Army Ranger, and a Delta Force veteran, are recruited into “Spectre 7” — a unit that doesn’t officially exist. Their bond is tested as they uncover a global conspiracy hidden beneath the mountains of Colorado. With enemies closing in and allies shrouded in secrecy, they must decide: walk away and forget—or fight a war no one else even knows exists. jpmartin13@hotmail.com
  • Picture Perfect by Angela Thorne
    • Pregnant portrait photographer Danielle Jeppeson, a devout tradwife in a tight church community, starts clocking the ways her controlling husband, Mark, is erasing her eye, her voice, and their neurodivergent kids. As pressure mounts through a brutal birth and the discovery that Mark smashed her camera, Danielle pivots from denial to action, quietly documenting the truth and planning an escape. A grounded domestic psychological drama with thriller edges about image, power, and a mother reclaiming herself before her children inherit the harm. angelafelsted@gmail.com
  • Absolute Faith by Mary Haarmeyer
    • A hardened smokejumper, haunted by a tragic past and estranged from his faith, returns home after a life-altering wildfire. Forced to protect those he loves while confronting his deepest pain, he must choose between bitterness and redemption when disaster strikes again. maryhaarmeyer@gmail.com
  • Declassified by Raymond Hauck

Semifinalists

  • The Last Dreamweaver by Nathan Bassett
    • After a tragic school shooting, a guilt-ridden teen meets a Native boy gifted with the power to alter dreams and time. Their attempt to rewrite the past unravels destiny itself—forcing them to face the cost of redemption, sacrifice, and the danger of trying to change what was meant to be. cbassett1955.cb@gmail.com
  • ENYO by John O’Connor
    • In an authoritarian alternate America, a woman goes undercover inside the regime, risking her life on a final act of resistance that could change history or destroy her. joconnor99@me.com

Best Screenplay 

  • Serenade by Angela Thorne
    • After her husband’s suspicious death, a D.C. violinist discovers he stole millions from the mob. Chased by strangers who now want the money, she’s trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse. angelafelsted@gmail.com

 

  • Best Short Film – Ghost in the Glass, Directed by Chuck Griffith