Exciting – especially if you won 🙂

A contest we alerted you to back in April – the Rockstone Foundation (RFI) and Black Women’s Entertainment Network (BWE) Web Series Writing Contest, which promises a guaranteed production deal of up to $10,000, and an air date on the Black Women’s Entertainment Network’s website (bwenetwork.com). The main criteria for entry being that the web series must feature a Black woman in a lead role.

Following the initial announcement earlier this year, the selection committee received over 400 submissions across all genres, and crossing continents. And roughly 3 months after we alerted you to the contest, the esteemed group of judges narrowed those 400 submissions down to 10 finalists, which we posted here almost exactly a month ago.

Since then, as you were asked to do, many of you cast your votes for which of the 10 finalists you felt should win the award. And today we have the final results, announcing the grand prize and audience award winners of the competition.

The envelopes please courtesy of RFI and BWE…

Rockstone Foundation (RFI) & Black Women’s Entertainment (BWE) Network Announce Winners of Web Series Writing Contest

Beverly Hills, CA, August 15, 2011 – The Rockstone Foundation Inc has announced its grand prize and audience award winners of the Web Series Writing Contest sponsored by nascent online television network, the Black Women’s Entertainment Network (BWE).

“Once again, we sincerely thank all the writers who submitted their work to this ground breaking writing contest designed to create more roles for black women. We received over 400 submissions spanning all genres, from across the US, Europe and Africa. So as you might expect, selecting a grand prize winner from our ten finalist proved to be quite challenging for our judges. Because of the success of this program, we hope to re-boot the contest again in a few months and make it a bi-annual event for our organizations and give more filmmakers an opportunity to shine,” said Rockstone’s Programming Director, Lucinda Jackson.

Production of the pilot episode based on the grand prize winning screenplay will be produced by the BWE Network for up to $10,000 and premiere on the network’s website. The audience award winner will receive a special prize to be announced later.

The grand prize winner of the Inaugural RFI and BWE Network $10,000 Web Series Writing Contest is:

FIRST OFFENSE, Written by: Channing Godfrey Peoples

“First Offense” tells the story of Tricia Lewis, “Parole Officer of the Year”, a woman who is no nonsense, by the book and extremely meticulous when it comes to her job. Her career is on the fast track. Her love life however is the exact opposite – nonexistent. She goes home to a microwave meal and a romance novel every night. Enter Jackson Ward who is handsome, intelligent charming and every woman’s dream; he just has one small problem, he’s her parolee.

The audience favorite award winner of the Inaugural RFI and BWE Network $10,000 Web Series Writing Contest is:

FOURTH MEAL, Written by: Nikyatu Jusu

“Fourth Meal” is about a dangerous new breed of black Vampires protected by added melanin that roam the earth. RAYNE, a half Vampire, half Human hybrid has one insatiable need: to eradicate corrupt Vampires.

Visitors to both BWE and RFI’s websites can learn more about the winners and leave comments for a few more weeks. Just visit http://www.rockstone.org or http://www.bwenetwork.com.

“Congratulations to all our finalists and our sincere thanks to everyone for your continued support of the RFI and the Black Women’s Entertainment Network. Please stay tuned for future announcements regarding casting and crewing up for the production of “First Offense” over the coming months. We would like to keep our community engaged in helping to determine the cast and filmmakers for the series,” says Jackson.

This year’s judges included (alphabetized): Aymar Jean Christian (Blogger, Televisual), Darrien M. Gipson (Director, SAG Indie), Effie Brown (Film Producer/ COO Duly Noted Inc.), Jennifer Williams (President, Organization of Black Screenwriters), Michael Ajakwe Jr. (Executive Director, LA Web Series Festival), Lisa Osborne (President/CEO, Jigsaw Global), Michell L. Davis, Esq. (Partner, Register Lett LLP), Nicole Olivas Jenkins (BET Original Programming/Scripted and Reality), Rob Hardy (Filmmaker, Partner at Rainforest Films), Stephanie Piche (CEO, Executive Producer Mingle Media TV Network), Taj Paxton (Filmmaker, Good Karma), and Tanya Kersey (CEO, BlackTalentNews.com & Hollywood Career Strategist).

Congrats to Channing and Nikyatu! We’ll be watching very closely for what comes next…

And thanks to Rockstone Foundation and Black Women’s Entertainment Network for creating this contest and letting us be a part of it!