Inaugural Del Shores Foundation Writers Search Winners Announced

From August to December, LGBTQ+ identifying writers living in thirteen Southern states submitted their unproduced plays, screenplays and shorts/web series scripts to the Del Shores Foundation Writers Search. Through a series of judging panels assembled from industry professional across the arts and entertainment industry, here are the selected winners:

JIGGS BURGESS, from Texas, is the winner of the Best Play Award and a $3,000 Cash Award for his play The Red Suitcase.

MILO SILVER & MONET NOELLE MARSHALL, a writing team from North Carolina, are the winners of the Best Screenplay Award and a $3,000 Cash Award for their screenplay Knead.

VANDY BETH GLENN, from Georgia, is the winner of the Best Short Film Script Award and a $1,000 Cash Award for her script Shelter In Place.

Del Shores and Program Director Emerson Collins informed each of the winners of their selection live on Zoom. "It thrills me that we have found these amazing LGBTQ+ Southern storytellers and they found us. Our goal is to give them opportunity, exposure and guidance, and to help open some doors to get their beautiful stories told. I cannot wait to see what is next for all of them," Shores said.

The runners-up were PARIS CRAYTON III for his play Only Some of God's Children or Mississippi Magnolias, and T.J. PARSELL for his screenplay Fish. A complete list of finalists and semi-finalists can be found at www.delshoresfoundation.org.

The Del Shores Foundation is also providing accompanying grants to support the development and production of each winner's work. These include a $10,000 Production Grant to the budget of the first professional theatre company to produce the winning play, a $2000 Production Grant to the budget for producing the winning short film/web series and a $2000 travel grant to support the winning screenplay writers' introduction to film production companies in Los Angeles.

The Screenplay Award and Production Grant are sponsored by Cindy Warner and Michele Ryan. The Play Award is sponsored by Jeffrey Johnson and Michael Keegan. The Play Production Grant is sponsored by Dennis Frisman.

The Del Shores Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit with a mission to find and facilitate the development of unknown southern queer artistic voices. The Del Shores Foundation Writers Search is open to writers who identify as LGBTQ+ and reside in Southern states. The 2022 Del Shores Foundation Writers Search will open for submissions in August.

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