{"id":705,"date":"2026-01-12T18:38:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/?p=705"},"modified":"2026-01-12T18:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:38:37","slug":"the-results-are-in-meet-the-stars-of-our-back-to-school-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/?p=705","title":{"rendered":"The Results Are In: Meet the Stars of Our &#8220;Back to School&#8221; Contest!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The hallways weren&#8217;t the only things buzzing this semester. Instead of just hitting the books, students across the region were busy hitting &#8220;save&#8221; on their first masterpieces. We were absolutely blown away by the cinematic imagination you shared with us\u2014from heart-pounding dramas to laugh-out-loud comedies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To every writer who hit &#8220;submit&#8221;: Thank you. Finishing a screenplay is a massive achievement, and your passion proves the future of film is brighter than ever. After much deliberation, our judges have selected the standout scripts of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>The Winners\u2019 Circle:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"895\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sophia-Mercado-ok-895x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"706\" data-full-url=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sophia-Mercado-ok.jpg\" data-link=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/?attachment_id=706\" class=\"wp-image-706\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sophia-Mercado-ok-895x1024.jpg 895w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sophia-Mercado-ok-262x300.jpg 262w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sophia-Mercado-ok-768x879.jpg 768w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sophia-Mercado-ok.jpg 1197w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 895px) 100vw, 895px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1st Place: Sophia Mercado <\/strong><br>\u2014 Pressed<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"895\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Rhys-Schuffman-895x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-707\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Rhys-Schuffman-895x1024.jpg 895w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Rhys-Schuffman-262x300.jpg 262w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Rhys-Schuffman-768x879.jpg 768w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Rhys-Schuffman.jpg 1197w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 895px) 100vw, 895px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>2nd Place:\u00a0Rhys Shuffman <br>\u2014\u00a0<em>Before the Robots Come<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"895\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Millunzi-ok-1-895x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-710\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Millunzi-ok-1-895x1024.jpg 895w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Millunzi-ok-1-262x300.jpg 262w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Millunzi-ok-1-768x879.jpg 768w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Millunzi-ok-1.jpg 1197w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 895px) 100vw, 895px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3rd Place: Vincent Millunzi <\/strong><br>\u2014 The Wrong Car<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2>Honorable Mentions:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jaxon-Jacob-1-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-712\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jaxon-Jacob-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jaxon-Jacob-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jaxon-Jacob-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jaxon-Jacob-1-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jaxon-Jacob-1-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jaxon Jacob <\/strong>\u2014 Perfect Selfie<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Purcell-1-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-714\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Purcell-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Purcell-1-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Purcell-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Purcell-1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Vincent-Purcell-1-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Vincent Purcell<\/strong> \u2014 Split Decision<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Congratulations to our winners! We are so proud of your dedication to the craft. Keep writing, keep dreaming, and stay tuned for our next call for entries!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The hallways weren&#8217;t the only things buzzing this semester. Instead of just hitting the books, students across the region were busy hitting &#8220;save&#8221; on their first masterpieces. We were absolutely blown away by the cinematic imagination you shared with us\u2014from heart-pounding dramas to laugh-out-loud comedies. To every writer who hit &#8220;submit&#8221;: Thank you. Finishing a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":716,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions\/716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.barbaraseniorsharkinsfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}