The five entrants in the 2012 Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards, now in its 57th year, prevailed from a pool of more than 250 submissions from eight University Of California campuses.

The finallists are: Kathleen Coggshall (UCSF) for Seventeen; George Larkin (UC Berkeley) for Bastard Son Of William Shakespeare; Marissa Matteo (UCLA) for Lions And Men; Alaric Smeets (UCLA) for Life On Mars; and Stephen Wolf (UCLA) for Emperor Watson.

This year’s judges are producer Debra Martin Chase, producer Mike Medavoy and Los Angeles Times film critic Betsy Sharkey.

The $15,000 first prize, $7,500 second prize, $4,000 third prize, $2,000 and $1,000 honourable mentions will be awarded on Nov 8 at UCLA.