Chicago Script Awards

James Robertson is a screenwriter from Melbourne, Australia and a member of the jury for the Chicago Script Awards. He is also the winner of the 2025 Best War Screenplay. He grew up on a sheep and cattle farm in western Victoria before moving abroad, living in France and later New Caledonia, where he and his wife raised their four children. In recent years, his travels with his adult children have taken him across a range of extreme and remote environments, including trekking the Sahara in Mauritania with camels, walking the Camino from Le Puy to Santiago, and sailing across the Atlantic from Ushuaia to Walvis Bay via Antarctica, South Georgia, and Tristan da Cunha. It was during this Atlantic voyage on a 116-year-old Dutch three-masted barque that he met the son of the man who inspired his screenplay Song of a Hitler Youth, a project currently under consideration by several major production companies. Robertson previously wrote for Australian television on the anthology series Two Twisted, produced by Bryan Brown and often compared to The Twilight Zone. He holds a master’s degree in directing from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. He is currently developing several new projects, including a samurai story set during the Meiji Restoration in Japan

Fisher Alexander Jury for Chicago Script Awards Winner of 2025 Best Drama Screenplay Fisher Alexander is an actor and writer originally from New Orleans, where he attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts’ conservatory Drama program for all four years of high school. From there, he graduated from Rollins College as a Theatre Arts Major with emphases in Acting, Stage Directing, and Dramatic Writing and a Minor in Art History. He was awarded as 2019’s Best Featured Actor by the Orlando Sentinel for his performance as Mason in ‘john proctor is the villain,’ later being chosen to perform in the first official staged reading of the play in New York City. He has also guest starred as Nicholas in NBC’s ‘Found,’ portrayed Brick in Rollins’ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ and completed three full-length screenplays.

Meet Stéphanie Cousté - jury member for the Chicago Script Awards and winner of Best Foreign Screenplay 2025. A French multidisciplinary artist and creator, Stéphanie’s life took a dramatic turn at sixteen after a severe horse-riding accident, leaving her with lasting injuries, memory loss, and dyslexia. Turning away from science, she embraced the arts, using images as her primary way to understand and express the world. Deeply connected to nature and horses, she first pursued a career as an international rider before discovering her second passion: cinema. Beginning as an assistant set decorator on TV films, Stéphanie gradually explored every aspect of filmmaking. In 1998, the loss of her father and the emotional impact of The Horse Whisperer inspired her to transform personal pain into storytelling. A deeply personal script she had written for herself remained undeveloped for 27 years, until 2025, when she rewrote it with a contemporary perspective, enriched by life experience, convictions, and a desire to inspire others through cinema. Stéphanie’s journey is a testament to resilience, creativity, and the power of images and storytelling to heal and connect.

Following yesterday’s announcement of the results, the focus now shifts to the upcoming season of the Chicago Script Awards. Joining the jury is Charles Borg, an award-winning writer and producer and the founder of Smash To: Script Consulting. His work spans both film and television, with three feature films to his name—Caiman, Young Ali, and Man—as well as a co-producing credit on Three Worlds. His projects have been distributed on Apple TV+, Amazon, and Tubi, and he also co-produced two seasons of the FUSE boxing docuseries Knockout, which aired on Hulu. He has collaborated with creatives from Pixar, Bad Robot, Lucasfilm, and Yotta Games, and currently teaches at Columbia College Chicago and Loyola University.

The energy here feels different today. There is a quiet excitement that comes with reaching the culmination of such an intense search. We started with an incredible pool of talent from all corners of the globe, and narrowing those semi-finalists down to our final 14 winners was a task that stayed with us long after we put our notes away . It was never just about checking boxes or looking for a perfect format - it was about finding that specific spark, that raw piece of storytelling that makes you forget you are reading a script and makes you feel like you are already sitting in a darkened theater. These 14 projects represent the very heart of what we set out to find this year . They are bold, they are authentic, and they possess that magnetic ability to bridge the gap between a writer’s imagination and a global audience. We have spent the last few weeks completely immersed in these narratives, and seeing them rise to the top has been a privilege. The depth of the writing we encountered proved that great stories are built with obsession and heart. To our 14 winners: thank you for trusting us with your work . You have reminded us why we do this - because a truly great story has a pulse of its own that cannot be ignored. While this chapter of the competition ends here, the real journey for these scripts is just beginning. We will be watching closely as you bring these visions to life on stages and screens around the world.

Following yesterday’s exciting announcement of our semi-finalists, the journey continues as the field narrows even further. Today, we are thrilled to reveal the 49 scripts that have successfully moved into this exclusive next round. The depth of talent in this year’s selection is truly remarkable, spanning a vast international landscape. This group of 49 represents a diverse range of voices from the United States, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Germany, South Africa, Australia, Panama, and France.Exploring Every Genre and Format. Full list of Finalists: 🔗chicagoscriptawards.com/blog/march-finalists Stay tuned - the final winners and top honors will be officially unveiled tomorrow!

The Spring 2026 season delivered an exceptionally strong edition, with more than 700 screenplays submitted from around the world. The selection of 91 semifinalists therefore represents not only a mark of outstanding quality, but also a vibrant cross-section of contemporary global storytelling. Across the submissions, several themes strongly emerged - identity, loss, and personal transformation stood at the forefront. From intimate dramas exploring grief, trauma, and family dynamics, to powerful female and queer-driven narratives, to genre pieces tackling technological anxiety, political tension, and dystopian futures, this year’s pool reflected both emotional depth and bold creative ambition. Notably, many stories blurred the line between reality and the supernatural, while others revisited historical and societal narratives with fresh perspectives. All semifinalist projects are available on our website. chicagoscriptawards.com / Link in Bio

Winner of Foreign Screenplay (non UK/USA and Australian Screenwriter) E.A.G.L.E Written by Stéphanie Cousté Stéphanie Cousté is a french passionate creator. She began her career as a professional rider, driven by her love of nature, animals, and sports. After a riding accident that changed the course of her life, her path led her to her second passions: image and storytelling, which brought her into cinema. Over the years, she learned all the trades of film creation - from set design to camera work to animation - forging a broad and complete vision of visual narration. This eclectic journey naturally led her to writing and to her lifelong project: E.A.G.L.E. First imagined as a feature-film screenplay in 1998, then adapted into a novel in 2016, both are now translated into English and updated to resonate with our contemporary era. Visually powerful, this story portrays resilience, the unbreakable bond between Human, Animal, and Nature, and the courage to always rise again - a reflection of her deepest values.

Winner of Best Stage Play “Breathe” Written by Javon Johnson A native of Anderson, S.C., Johnson is the founding Artistic Director of Bear Fruit Conservatory and founding ensemble member of Congo Square Theatre Company in Chicago as well as founder of Bear Fruit Conservatory and Board President of The Mark Theatre formerly WACO Theatre in LA. He is also a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, a MFA graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, BA recipient from S.C. State University and has served as NEA and TCG panelist.

Winner of HASTFW Screenplay (Horror, Action, Sci-fi, Thriller, Fantasy, Western) Frozen Lies Written by Eric R Lotter Eric Lotter is a screenwriter and storyteller whose work explores the intersection of technology, identity, and control. His scripts span elevated sci-fi thrillers, psychological true crime, and genre-bending adventures, often blending emotional intimacy with high-concept stakes. A multi-competition semifinalist and finalist, Eric’s writing has been recognized by Austin Film Festival, Slamdance, StoryPros, and the Hollywood Genre Awards. With a background in world-building and a focus on grounded character dynamics, he develops stories designed for both festival acclaim and commercial appeal.

Winner of Best Drama Screenplay Jackie and Harry Written by Fisher Alexander Fisher Alexander is an actor and writer originally from New Orleans, where he attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts’ conservatory Drama program for all four years of high school. From there, he graduated from Rollins College as a Theatre Arts Major with emphases in Acting, Stage Directing, and Dramatic Writing and a Minor in Art History. He was awarded as 2019’s Best Featured Actor by the Orlando Sentinel for his performance as Mason in ‘john proctor is the villain,’ later being chosen to perform in the first official staged reading of the play in New York City. He has also guest starred as Nicholas in NBC’s ‘Found,’ portrayed Brick in Rollins’ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ and completed three full-length screenplays.

Winner of Best First Time Screenwriter (Short) Oxblood Written by Jeanne Bøe Jeanne Bøe, a Norwegian actor and filmmaker living in Norway. She has been on stage for 30 years, written countless plays and toured USA, Dubai, Italy, Sweden, Iceland, Germany and England. She works in Oslo at www.skuda.no - and also run her own theatre Company: Ibsen Skiens International Theatre Company. Last tour was in Nuuk Greenland, where she played at the National Theatre. She has her acting degree from London, Film education from Oslo college, and writing education at Oxford University in England.