Title: Lucas screenstory competition now open
Description: 3rd annual Christian Screenstory Competition – spring 2012 – rules and entry instructions below

Deadline for entries: 2012-04-15

2012 Third Annual Screen Story Competition

The Christ in Media Institute at Bethany Lutheran College invites your entry for a “screen story competition” in the spring 2012 semester. The competition challenges you to create story ideas that clearly reflect Christian beliefs, and that could be developed into a short film or a full-length motion picture for showing to the general American public in theatres or on television.

Format. Create your entry in the format of a “treatment,” that is, a narrative that is a full exploration of the story. A treatment for a short film would run a page or two (single spaced), for a full-length feature from 3 to 5 pages. A more detailed description of the treatment format accompanies this invitation, including an online reference to where you can examine a sample 5-page treatment.

Eligibility:  student division. This competition is open to any student enrolled at Bethany Lutheran College, Martin Luther College, Wisconsin Lutheran College, or  any student at a high school, college or university who understands biblical Lutheran theology.

Eligibility: non-student division. A separate competition is open to non-students. Members of college faculties and staffs, and any other adults of our fellowship, are encouraged to enter.

Multiple entries from the same person are acceptable.

Prizes. In the student division, prizes of $50 are offered for the best entry in each of the six categories listed below, with one $50 “wild-card” prize for the best second place entry from all the categories. A $100 grand prize will be awarded to the best overall entry. The grand prize winner will be eligible to consult with Bethany faculty, as convenient to both parties, regarding taking the story idea to the next stage, moving it toward possible production. In the non-student division, all of the six categories will be combined, and a single prize of $100 will be awarded to the best entry, with second and third place winners receiving $75 and $50 respectively.

This competition continues the “CMI Lucas Cranach Awards,” which are offered in various categories by the Christ in Media Institute. These awards are named after Lucas Cranach (1472-1553), close friend of Martin Luther, an artist who recognized the value of popular media in bringing the saving message of the Reformation to the people. His famous altar painting in the City Church in Wittenberg, showing Luther in the pulpit with one hand on the open Bible and the other pointing to Christ on the cross, exactly captured for a popular audience the essence of Luther’s work. Lucas Cranach is an artist who created visual representations of theological concepts, a central focus of the Christ in Media Institute.

Story categories: Entries are invited for stories in the following categories:

  • Romantic relationship stories
  • Sports stories
  • Science/science fiction stories
  • History-based stories
  • Performing arts (theatre, music) stories
  • Other (for stories that don’t fit into any of the above categories)

Competition Rules:

  1. Entries must be consistent with and clearly reflect biblical Christianity.To assist with this requirement, writers are invited to read Prof. Mark Harstad’s presentation.
  2. Stories must envision a general audience of the American public (not just those who are already church members)
  3. Entries must be the original work of the author, and will remain the property of the author. The Christ in Media Institute retains the right to keep copies of entries on file, and with author’s permission, use them for promotional and instructional purposes.
  4. Entries must include a completed Entry Page (model attached below), a cover page, a separate page with story title and logline, and the treatment. The author’s name and school must be on the entry page and on the cover page, but no other identifying material should appear in the document.
  5. Entries should be 1 – 2 pages long (single spaced) for a short film story, and 3- 5 pages long for a feature film story.
  6. Entries should be submitted as MSWord documents attached to an email sent to aschaffer@blc.edu.
  7. Deadline is midnight April 15, 2012.
  8. In any category, no prize may be offered if there is no worthy entry.

There are no rules about the following matters; writers should make their own decisions in these areas:

  1. Length of story – short film? feature length? (please specify on entry page which is intended)
  2. Age of intended audience – for children? for adults? for both? (please specify on entry page which is intended)
  3. Extent and manner in which Christianity and Christian teachings appear in the story – subtle? assumed? direct? strong? Choices here will be evident in the story. Remember, the story is intended for a general American audience – not just church members.

Entry form

The entry form and additional information are available as a Word document or PDF file.