John E. Johnson, Executive Director of the American Screenwriters Association, will present George Borelli of Columbus, OH with the 2000 ASA International Screenwriting Competition Grand Prize on August 5, 2000 in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to the presentation, Borelli will participate in the Selling to Hollywood Screenwriters Conference, attended conference sessions, meet with film industry professionals and have a chance to pitch his script to interested agents and producers.

Borelli’s entry, The Jewel and the Sword, tells the story of Masashi and Andy, best friends in college who find themselves on opposite sides of the war after Pearl Harbor. In a deadly sea battle, Masashi inadvertently rescues Andy, then whisks him off to a Japanese mountain hideaway where he meets and falls in love with Yoshi, Masashi's sister. In a daring raid, they rescue Yoshi's parents from an U.S. Internment Camp and reunite them with their family in Japan.Yoshi and Andy marry. Their baby, Hope, symbolizes the power of love rising above the hatred of war.

Borelli also receives ASA's assistance in pitching his story to Hollywood. ASA will also provide him with a trip to Los Angeles including accommodation at an area hotel, registration to the Selling to Hollywood Screenwriters Conference, and free screenwriting resources. Additionally, Borelli will receive the Joseph ‘Mick’ Caswell Award for Screenwriting Excellence, an award which honors one of the original members of ASA who passed away in 1998.

The four other finalists are:

2nd Place: THE VIKING BOATS -- Murray Spitzer: Bethesda, MD

A true story of the miraculous rescue of the trapped British Expeditionary Force by the famous fleet of small boats off the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940. But what truth lies in  the deadly threat of invasion of a seemingly helpless England by Hitler's secret weapon, a fleet of 10,000 mysterious, hidden "Viking boats."

3rd Place: THE OTHER ME -- Roger Hard: Concord, MA

Years after lightning strikes him as a youth, Air Force officer Brian Heath discovers a carbon copy of himself named Alex, a struggling rock musician who grew up in a mirror family to Brian's, but wants no part in finding a cure to the illness they both share.

4th Place: A SUMMER AWAY-- Kellie Doyle: Columbus, OH

Six recent college graduates delay entering the workforce during their first summer after graduation and choose to live on a commune run by a couple of old 60’s hippies.  When confronted by a major university bent on logging the forests around the commune farm for profit, the graduates choose to fight, and gain respect for one another through the process.

5th Place: STRINGS -- Brian Tognotti: Oakland, CA
"We both love tennis.  That defies the gay male stereotype."  Thus begins the love affair between Elliott, a hopeless romantic dreading his 30th birthday, and Scott Fontenot, a twentyish professional tennis player bent on being number one.  They fight the homophobia in male sports, a cynical gay community, and the jealous sabotage of Elliott's best friend Antoine to find that the hardest battle lies within.  Ultimately, they must give up everything to remain together: safety, the infatuation of celebrity and the single-minded pursuit of their own perfect fantasies.