The Tribeca Film Insitute (TFI) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation are pleased to announce that Barnett Brettler is the winner of this year's Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting. Set in a dystopian world where people are losing the ability to sleep, Waking Hours, was selected as the “best-of-the-best” screenplay from  six leading film schools participating in Sloan’s National Film Program.

Created in 2011, the 2013 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Student Grand Jury Prize celebrates exceptional feature screenplays that dramatize science and technology themes and/or that portray scientists, engineers, or mathematicians in prominent character roles.  

Selected by an awards committee comprised of actress Sarita Choudhury (Lady in the Water, “Homeland”); author Brent Hoff; director and writer Joshua Marston; and neuroscientist Heather Berlin, Barnett Brettler’s Waking Hours follows a British border agent as he leaves the safety of his country to search for the woman that he loves.

Brettler, in addition to attending this year’s Tribeca Film Festival and participating in the TFI Filmmaker Industry Meetings, will receive a $30,000 cash prize. The award also includes year-round support from TFI, including mentorship and guidance from scientific and film industry professionals and networking opportunities, as well as an additional $20,000 allocated to support the project over the course of the year.