The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced the winners of the 30th annual Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. The competition, which aims to identify and encourage talented new screenwriters, awards fellowships with the understanding that recipients will complete a feature-length screenplay during their fellowship year.

This year’s competition saw a total of 7,442 submitted screenplays, with 10 individuals and two teams chosen as finalists. The five winning screenwriters, read and judged by the Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee, will each received $35,000, with the first installment given to the winners at a ceremony to be held Wednesday, November 4, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The winning screenplays will be performed at a live reading in November.

The winners are:

Elizabeth Chomko, What They Had

Andrew Friedhof, Great Falls

Anthony Grieco, Best Sellers

Sam Regnier, Free Agent

Amy Tofte, Addis Abeka

The other finalists are:

Ghazi Albuliwi, Arafat

Jennifer Bailey and Max Lance, Best Funeral Ever

Ryan Covington, The Secrets We Keep

Lynn Esta Goldman, Angel on the Wall

Murat Izmirli, Grimwood

Suzanne Kelman and Susannah Rose Woods, Held

Augustus Rose, Far from Cool

Since its establishment in 1986, a total of 142 Nicholl fellowships have been awarded. The Academy does not acquire any rights to the works of Nicholl fellows, and will not be involved commercially with their completed scripts.

The Academy Nicholl Fellowships Committee is chaired by writer Robin Swicord, with marketing executive Buffy Shutt serving as vice chair. Other members include writers Tina Gordon Chism, Naomi Foner, Eric Roth, Kirsten Smith, Dana Stevens and Tyger Williams; actor Eva Marie Saint; cinematographer John Bailey; executive Marcus Hu; producers Stephanie Allain, Albert Berger, Julia Chasman, Julie Lynn and Peter Samuelson; and agent Ron Mardigian.