High school storytellers can submit a 5–15 page short script through their school for a chance to win $5K in production funding and the opportunity to develop their script into a movie + $2,500 scholarship for winning writers of the script. Kinolime NXT showcases the strongest stories and the audience chooses which script wins the grand prize.
Competition Calendar
Announcement Date: December 1, 2025
Video Tutorial: January 5, 2026
Submission: February 2 – February 22, 2026 [11:59 pm PST]
Round 1: February 23 – March 15, 2026 [11:59 pm PST]
Round 2: March 16 – March 22, 2026 [11:59 pm PST]
Round 3: March 23 – March 29, 2026 [11:59 pm PST]
Winner Announcement: March 30, 2026
Prize
$7,500
Winner Receives:
$5,000 Film Production Grant
$2,500 Scholarship fund shared among all student writers on the winning script.
Two Runner Ups: $1,000 film production grant + $500 scholarship fund shared among all
student writers on each finalist script
Seven Semi-Finalists: $250 grant for their school’s AV/arts program.
Note:All grants and scholarship funds are awarded to participating writer(s) and/or their legal guardian(s).
