Writers, it's that time of year again! The annual Harvardwood Writers Competition is now open for submissions through July 31, 2019.

We're accepting feature screenplays, original TV pilots, and shorts (<30pp), and all writers are eligible to submit their scripts, as long as they are Full Members of Harvardwood. The Harvardwood Writers Competition (HWC) was founded in 2006 with the aim of recognizing superior work by Harvard writers and giving these talented individuals the opportunity to gain industry exposure. View the list of past HWC winners.

START BIDDING: Harvardwood's Summer 2019 VIP Lunch auction is LIVE now through Friday, June 28th!

We're auctioning off one-on-one lunches with amazing Harvard entertainment VIPs: Albert Cheng MBA '97 (COO & Co-Head of Television, Amazon Studios), Jon Goldman AB '87 (Managing Partner, Skybound), Jenette Kahn AB '68 (Co-Founder, Double Nickel Entertainment), and Keri Putnam AB '87 (CEO, Sundance Institute).

Please read the auction rules and guidelines before placing any bid on a VIP lunch. Bidding ends at 11am on Friday, June 28th, but Harvardwood members get a special perk: one extra hour of bidding from 11am-12pm! If you aren’t a current Harvardwood member, this is a great time to join or renew your membership.

After reviewing numerous outstanding community service proposals, we are delighted to present to you the following 2019 Harvardwood Heroes. Each grant recipient will receive $500 to use at his/her discretion.

This year's Heroes are:

• Athena Bowe AB '15 | Chinese in Entertainment

• Karen Harris JD '94 | JPYC Foundation

• Megan McDonnell AB '14 | Future2Film

• Rodney Sanders EDM '13 | Perfecting Gifts

Read more about the 2019 Heroes' community service projects.

You can make a world of difference to a Harvardwood student this summer! 

The Harvardwood Travel Fund enables Harvard students participating in the Harvardwood Summer Internship Program (HSIP) to travel to/from events hosted by the program throughout the summer. Many students interning in Los Angeles do not have access to a car, and the travel funds go strictly toward ridesharing or public transportation expenses to attend events hosted by Harvardwood or one of our industry partners. 

The Cannes Film Festival runs from May 14th to May 25th this year. If you plan to attend or your film is screening at Cannes, get in touch via email to tell us all about it. As we've done for other major film festivals, we'll connect all the Harvardwood members and friends who respond to each other, so you can meet up and make new friends.

The deadline to apply to TIME'S UP Entertainment's mentoring program, Who's in the Room, is April 19th! Get the program details and application link below.

“Who’s in the Room” (WITR), a program of TIME’S UP Entertainment, is designed to increase the presence of people from a variety of economic and cultural backgrounds in the producer and executive ranks of the entertainment industry. We want to flood the market with young, diverse executives and help them build a powerful network of peers and mentors who will support them throughout their career.

We are targeting assistants in the executive and producer pipeline with one to three years of experience to help them get promoted, or “JUMP”, to junior executive level. Core to the program is an understanding that many young people leave the industry at the assistant level because they lack the support to overcome substantial cultural and socio-economic barriers.

Check your inboxes for an email from Harvard University with voting information for the Board of Overseers and the Elected Directors of the Harvard Alumni Association! This year's list of nominees includes Janet Echelman AB ’87, an internationally known artist working in the public art sphere. Janet as deeply involved in both the performing and visual arts during her time at Harvard. 

Given Harvardwood's mission to support members of the Harvard University community who believe in the power and purpose of the arts, media, and entertainment, and to utilize the creativity and leadership of our diverse members as forces for positive social change, we are delighted by Janet's nomination and hope you will support her too!

After you submit your application (found here), you'll be contacted by the HWP-Features program directors. The application will ask for a short bio highlighting your writing background, relevant experience, areas of interest and specific goals while in the program.

We are now accepting applications to receive a 2019 Harvardwood Heroes grant in the amount of $500, with four grants awarded annually. The deadline to submit your grant proposal is April 15, 2019.

The Harvardwood Heroes program awards $500 grants* to applicants who have demonstrated a distinguished level of service to their organizations of choice. Every year, grant winners will be determined by the strength of their proposal. They will receive the first $250 upon announcement of the winners and the balance of the grant upon submission of a final essay six months later. 

Read about the community service work that past Heroes have performed!

Are you heading to Tribeca 2019 and presenting a film? Let us know so we can share screening info and other details with the Harvardwood community. We love to support our members and their endeavors in the arts, media, and entertainment—whether it's by serving as a fiscal NPO sponsor in the early stages of a project or by promoting your concerts, exhibits, or screenings via the Harvardwood Heads To... calendar.

This year's Tribeca Film Festival is slightly later, running from April 24 through May 5, 2019.

It's baaaack: we're running a March Mania Membership Drive this month for *new members!

If you begin your membership subscription between now and March 31st, we'll give you a one-time use $20 certificate for "Harvardwood cash" that can go toward anything: program fees, entry to the annual Writers Competition, event registration, etc. After all, it seems fitting to celebrate Harvardwood's twenty years with a $20 gift to new members.