Five College Fellowship Finalists Announced for 43rd Annual HUMANITAS Prize™ Honoring Television and Film Writing that Enlightens and Entertains

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Five college students have been named as finalists for HUMANITAS' David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Fellowship and Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Fellowship, it was announced today by the organization's Executive Director Cathleen Young and President Ali LeRoi. Winners will be announced at the annual HUMANITAS Prize event on Friday, February 16, 2018 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. The HUMANITAS Prize was created in 1974 to honor film and television writers whose work inspires compassion, hope and understanding in the human family.

"HUMANITAS exists to encourage, stimulate and sustain the nation's screenwriters in their humanizing task, and to give them the recognition they deserve," said Young. "This mission is particularly important when it comes to the next generation of writers. Starting out in this field has never been easy, but today, when the cost of living in the nation's entertainment hubs is staggeringly high, these fellowships, made possible by the generosity of the Angells and Carol Mendelsohn, have the potential to make a real difference in the lives of two talented writers."

The winning writers in each category will be awarded $20,000 to provide financial support while they work on a feature spec script or television pilot.

"Our founder, Bud Kieser, may have put it best when he said, 'Whatever we can do to empower, enrich and support writers, we should do because it is writers who show us where we've been and where we are going as a culture,'" added LeRoi. "Today's young writers will be the ones to take us where we are going through their work, and we are proud to empower and support them through these fellowships."  

The HUMANITAS Prize college finalists are:

The David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Fellowship
Kevin Carroll (Loyola Marymount) – LIFE'S NO FAIRYTALE
Jerell Rosales (UCLA) – FLIP (Funny Little Island People)
Bridget Visser (UCLA) – THE COVEN

The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Fellowship
Lauren Moon (USC) – WESTMINSTER, CA
Bridget Visser (UCLA) – MAD NELLIE
Kieryn Ziegler (USC) – WAVES

About The Fellowships
In 2003, HUMANITAS created The David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Fellowship in honor of David and Lynn Angell, who were aboard Flight #11 when it crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. David was a writer on the staff of Cheers and co-creator of Wings and Frasier; his wife Lynn supported him during the early years of his career in her work as a librarian. Together, the Angell's focused their philanthropic efforts on the ideal that all people are entitled to develop to their fullest potential. The David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Fellowship was created to recognize and financially reward young writers. In doing so, HUMANITAS hopes it encourages them to create works that enrich the lives of others through comedy that entertains with humor and captures the human spirit.

HUMANITAS created The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Fellowship in 2017 thanks to a generous endowment from acclaimed television writer and producer Carol Mendelsohn, best known for her work on the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which was once ranked as the top-watched TV show in the world. The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Fellowship exists to recognize and reward the talents of young writers with financial support to empower them to tell meaningful stories.

About The HUMANITAS Prize
Since its inception in 1974, The HUMANITAS Prize has awarded over $3 million to more than 360 deserving television and motion picture writers whose work affirms the dignity of the human person, probes the meaning of life, and enlightens the use of human freedom. HUMANITAS exists to encourage, stimulate and sustain the nation's screenwriters in their humanizing task, and to give them the recognition they deserve.

The HUMANITAS Prize is funded by an endowment established through the generosity of individuals, networks, studios and foundations. Winners of the HUMANITAS Prize have included: Allison Schroeder & Theodore Melfi (Hidden Figures); Robert Schenkkan & Andrew Knight (Hacksaw Ridge); Ava DuVernay (13^th), Nate Parker (The Birth Of A Nation); Wash Westmoreland & Richard Glatzer (Still Alice); John Ridley (12 Years A Slave); Damien Chazelle (Whiplash); Larry Kramer (The Normal Heart); David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook); Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild); Denis Leary & Peter Tolan ("Rescue Me"); Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious); Steve Levitan ("Modern Family," "Frasier"); Ryan Murphy ("Glee"); Robert & Michelle King ("The Good Wife"); David E. Kelley ("The Practice," "Picket Fences"); Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting); Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List); David Shore ("House"); Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing"); Tim Robbins (Dead Man Walking); Jason Katims ("Friday Night Lights"); Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter (WALL-E); Nancy Oliver (Lars and the Real Girl); Eric Roth & Michael Mann (The Insider); Paul Haggis (Crash); Steven Bochco ("Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue") and Keir Pearson & Terry George (Hotel Rwanda).

For more information, please visit the HUMANITAS Prize at www.humanitasprize.org.

Media Contact:
The HUMANITAS Prize 
Cathleen Young
Executive Director
[email protected]
(310) 454-8769

SOURCE The HUMANITAS Prize

Related Links

http://www.humanitasprize.org