FilmFest's screenplay contest winners announced

Arkansas screenwriters earned all three cash awards in the first Ozark Foothills FilmFest's first annual Screenwriting Competition. All of the screenplay entrants were honored on Thursdaßy evening at a reception hosted by Lyon College, followed by the awards ceremony on campus.

The winners and descriptions of the screenplays provided by the author follow:

First Place ($500): Photographic Memory. Janet Moseley of Conway. While contemplating his future in his home town where he returned to take care of his dying father, Deputy Darren Kemp suspects a neighbor in the murder of a convenience store clerk. At the same time, KempÕs childhood friend and photo lab technician unknowingly shares the same suspicions.

Second Place ($300): The Knuckleballer. Michael L. Murphy of Conway. An obscure minor leaguer overcomes his war injuries to knuckleball the Cleveland Indians to a one-game playoff with the Red Sox for the 1948 pennant. Based on the true story of Gene "Lefty" Bearden.

Third Place ($200): Lucky Sarah. Rodney Bowie of North Little Rock. Sarah is trapped in her dreary life until a car accident blinds her. Only then can she see her way out.

Twenty-one aspiring screenwriters entered the competition, limited to writers who had not yet sold a screenplay for production. Nineteen of the entrants were Arkansans. Judges included Arkansas Democrat-Gazette film critic Philip Martin and Movie Style editor Karen Martin; screenwriter and former Lyon College faculty member Frank Thurmond, and author and radio producer Paula Morell, creator of the public radio series, Tales from the South.