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Kairos Prize Screenwriting Competition Announced

Michael Ireland
Assist News Service

CBN.com - LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- While Hollywood often recycles the same scripts year after year and the television industry struggles with falling ratings on its heavily laden reality slates, the Kairos Prize, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and presented by Movieguide®: A Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment, seeks to raise the bar within an industry that is, at times, out of touch with middle America.

With the largest monetary prize of any similar competition in the U.S., the Kairos Prize for Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays is inviting the most inspired screenwriters in the world to compete in its fourth annual competition.

"We are thrilled that many major players in the film and television industries are taking notice of the tremendously talented writers that the Kairos Prize is attracting," said Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide® and chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission®.

"Box office reports clearly indicate that the majority of audiences have made it clear they prefer wholesome, morally uplifting movies, and industry leaders are beginning to search for the greatest stories ever told,"he said.

Initiated in 2005, the $50,000 Kairos Prize offers the top three winners a chance to have their scripts considered by top Hollywood studio executives. Both the monetary value and the chance for script consideration set this prize apart from all others in the nation. Previous winners saw their screenplays reviewed and considered by the top Hollywood decision makers at the six major movie studios.

"Few first-time and beginning writers rarely have the type of exposure the Kairos Prize affords," Dr. Baehr noted. "While it may take a few years to see these scripts turned into a movie, the process has at least been given a chance to begin -- something many screenwriters struggle their entire lives to accomplish. That said, many of the winners have been optioned or signed by major agencies."

In addition to the substantial monetary prizes for the top three winners, their names and scripts will be announced at the 17th installment of the Movieguide® Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry in Beverly Hills on February 11, 2009, attended by more than 200 top executives, filmmakers, and celebrities. Dr. Baehr, along with Dr. Jack Templeton, president of the John Templeton Foundation, will also announce the prestigious Epiphany Prizes for Inspiring Movies and TV.

Sir John Templeton, the late founder of the John Templeton Foundation, long believed that the media -- specifically the entertainment media -- plays a vital role in how individuals form their ideas about faith and values. Similar to the famous Templeton Prize, the Foundation has initiated these Kairos and Epiphany Prizes with a common aim, but specifically for the entertainment industry.

More information and submission guidelines are available online at www.kairosprize.com . The standard deadline for entries is October 27 with a late deadline of December 1. Semi-finalists will be notified by mid-January 2009. A comprehensive understanding of the type of scripts the Kairos Prize will be awarding can be found in Dr. Ted Baehr's book, 'So You Want to Be in Pictures?', available online at www.movieguide.org .

The John Templeton Foundation was established in 1987 by renowned international investor, Sir John Templeton, to encourage a fresh appreciation of the critical importance -- for all peoples and cultures -- of the moral and spiritual dimensions of life. The Foundation is a significant sponsor of character education programs in the United States and throughout the world.

The Foundation's philanthropic vision is to support cost-effective programs that transmit and reinforce such enduring qualities as honesty, compassion for those less fortunate and a strong work ethic. The Foundation's philanthropic portfolio includes research on the nature and benefits of thrift, forgiveness, purpose, honesty, gratitude, humility, perseverance, generosity, worship, and prayer.

The Christian Film & Television Commission® is a ministry dedicated to redeeming the values of the mass media, according to biblical principles, by influencing media executives to adopt higher standards imbued with Christian and traditional family values and by informing and equipping the public in America and around the world, especially parents, families and Christians, to make wise media choices based on the biblical worldview.

Movieguide®: A Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment is the monthly publication of the Christian Film & Television Commission®. More information can be found at www.movieguide.org .

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Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.

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