Announcing the Winners of the 2023 Alfred P. Sloan Script Competition at Carnegie Mellon University.

August 7, 2023

Sally Seitz

First place ($25,000):
TOO MANY FISH IN THE SEA by Sally Seitz

Heartbroken, hometown marine biologist Hollie Ryan wants nothing more than a change of scenery post-breakup, but her plans to leave Little Cayman Island are interrupted by the rapid recolonization of the invasive lionfish. Will her love for the ocean be enough to save the very reefs that raise her AND heal her broken heart? Perhaps the arrival of a heartthrob documentarian will show Hollie that she is, in fact, still quite a catch.

Lara Miller

Second place ($15,000):
SUNA by Lara Miller

Dutiful daughter of a Kenyan community health worker, Grace Odero is on track to fulfill her father’s dream of becoming their island’s only physician. The only problem? Her dreams are bigger. Secretly she dreams of being the scientist to finally eradicate malaria. After she lies to her father, heads to MIT, and meets a similarly impassioned Chinese American scientist, she has a buzzing feeling that her two worlds are about to collide.

Jamie Olah

Third place ($5,000):
CLOUD CLUB by Jamie Olah

Aubrey, an uptight Ojibwe tween obsessed with meteorology, must join forces with the classmate of her nightmares, the scatterbrained Hli, to win the national science fair and meet her weather-forecasting idol.

“Congratulations to all the participants,” said Rob Handel, head of the Dramatic Writing program at CMU. “Thanks to all the scientists who partnered with us as consultants, this year representing Geoscience Australia Space Division; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; University of Oxford Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Planetery Physics Department; Argon Geochronology Lab & Marine and Geology Repository, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University; University of California, Irvine; Reef Environmental Education Foundation; Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University; University of California Santa Cruz Paleogenomics Lab; and Atkins SNC-Lavalin Global. Thank you to Melissa Martin, the selection committee, and the staff of the CMU School of Drama. Special thanks to guest faculty Tracy Held, Josh Wilder, and Hansol Jung.”