Awards
2026 KING AWARD RECIPIENTS
First Prize Graduate Film $10,000
Ana Alpizar for Norheimsund
Second Prize Graduate Film $7,500
Rubing Zhang for Dongmei
Third Prize Graduate Film $5,000
Anooya Swamy for Pankaja
First Prize UGFTV $10,000
Alan He for Ān-dé-lǔ
Second Prize UGFTV $7,500
Matthew Levine for The Roswell Report
Third Prize UGFTV $5,000
Marcus Quinn for The Lion of Teranga
2026 JAGAT MURARI DIRECTING AWARD RECIPIENTS
Graduate Film $5,000
Joecar Hanna for Talk Me
UGFTV $5,000
Harold Kahane for The Alternative Resolution
KING FINALISTS 2026
GRADUATE
Crisis Actor - dir. Lily Platt
Dongmei - dir. Rubing Zhang
Down the Shore - dir. Kirsten Pasewaldt
Gender Studies - dir. Jamie Kiernan O'Brien
If You Show Me Yours I’ll Show You Mine - dir. Riya Agarwal
Norheimsund - dir. Ana Alpizar
Pankaja - dir. Anooya Swamy
Talk Me - dir. Joecar Hanna
The Harvest - dir. Macdaleine St. Remy
Winter Ceremony - dir. Sidi Wang
UNDERGRADUATE
Alya - dir. Yara Melki
Ān-dé-lǔ - dir. Alan He
Debt I Owe - dir. Zane Rizvi-Riemer
Smoke Don’t Clear - dir. Bryan Chu
The Alternative Resolution - dir. Harold Kahane
The Delegate - dir. Morgan Bramwell
The Expert - dir. Lily Bartin
The Lion of Teranga - dir. Marcus Quinn
The Roswell Report - dir. Matthew Levine
The Tenets of Belrose-Marr - dir. Jett Tessaro
2026 Craft Award Winners
Graduate Film
King Screenwriting Award
Riya Agarwal for If You Show Me Yours I’ll Show You Mine
Nestor Almendros Awards for Cinematography
Skyla Page for If The Sun Exploded Today
Carl Lerner Award for Social Significance
Kai Hartman for If The Sun Exploded Today
Cinematography
Luke Kao
Pablo Mejia
Yuqian Zhang
Costume Design
Andy Reiff for Gender Studies
Benjamin Burton for A Rare and Unique Item
Maya Feltheimer for Cottonmouth
Editing
Ana Alpizar
Nino Benashvili
Tenzin Sedon
Original Score
Brandon Woo Snyder for Winter Ceremony
Cali Wang for Tropic of Cancer
Noam Rapport for If The Sun Exploded Today
Sam Walker for The Candidate
Producing
Anooya Swamy
Anton Vicente Kliot
Naa Adei Mante
Sophie Seyd
Production Design
Benjamin Burton & Emily Nicole Tucker for A Rare and Unique Item
Manu Ferrer & Alena Mesarosova for Talk Me
Mary Charles Ramsey for Cottonmouth
Yiming Zhao for Tropic of Cancer
Screenwriting
Ana A. Alpizar for Norheimsund
Kirsten Pasewaldt for Down the Shore
Rubing Zhang for Dongmei
Sidi Wang for Winter Ceremony
Acting
Alba Beqiri for Down the Shore
Bianca LaVerne Jones for The Candidate
Dylan Pitanza for Cottonmouth
Eva Lin Feindt for Peace Corps
Freya Mavor for The Sun Shines on Me
Ganesh Kumar for Every Day I Go Home
Hannah Horton for See you in the Morning
Harshini Boyalla for Pankaja
James Backsh for A Rare and Unique Item
Linyu Zhong for Tropic of Cancer
Liqin Wen for Dongmei
Marlee Eaton for Part
Miki Ishikawa for Quinnlyn, Whose Husband She Misplaced
Riyan Ali for An Alien (In America)
Sinuo Ren for 36 step
Swayam Ranjeet Bhatia for If You Show Me Yours I’ll Show You Mine
Yaite Ruiz for Norheimsund
Acting Ensemble
Crisis Actor
Fish in the Tank
Winter Ceremony
Undergraduate
King Screenwriting Award
Yara Melki for Alya
Nestor Almendros Awards for Cinematography
Cece Chan for Alya
Russel Carmine Award for Cinematography
Cole Fletchall-Silva
Carl Lerner Award for Social Significance
Marcus Quinn for The Lion of Teranga
Rory Stevenson for Hart Island
Ryan Barnett for Man of the House
Samer Saifan for If Birds Believed in God
Yara Melki for Alya
ZJ Wang for Confucius Plaza
Smith Film Scoring Award
Tess Rechtweg for Three Thanksgivings
Achievement in Advanced Television Production
Noah Laforest for Ti Blan
Achievement in Animation
Lily Bartin for The Expert
Achievement in Documentary
Rory Stevenson for Hart Island
Achievement in Experimental
Ting Su for Your City
Faculty Commendation in Comedy
Morgan Bramwell for The Delegate
Faculty Commendation in Camera Work
Pearl Sweeney for Cherry Picking
Faculty Commendation in Directing
Bryan Chu for Smoke Don’t Clear
Colby Amos for Cherry Picking
Jeremy Lu for Monkey Drum
Jett Tessaro for The Tenets of Belrose-Marr
Zane Rizvi-Riemer for Debt I Owe
Cinematography
Andrea Nguyen for Beatriz
Daeyoung Kim for Spit Out Your Bones
Haley Spranger for Bleeding Edge
Theo Braun for The Sound Between
Zane Peña for 16 Valley Lane
Costume Design
Dana Paz for Beatriz
Daniel Oliver Lee for What Brings You Here Tonight?
Julia Song for Yellow Tinted Glasses
Maddie Boudov for The Roswell Report
Miranda Potter for Becoming Clara Dogood
Noor Abukaram for The Weatherman
Editing
Cal Galicia for Spit Out Your Bones
Ian Dugan for The Delegate
Jack Kelly for MIMIC
Zach Gentry for Mates
Original Score
Tian Hao Pei for Three Thanksgivings
Gage Behnkendorf for Man of the House
Kailani Torruella for MIMIC
Nicholas Mahoney for Sons Are Not Earthbound
Shaun Kono-Peck for Monkey Drum
Ting Su for Beneath The Fog
Producing
Samer Saifan, Natalia Hess & Darren ZengIf for If Birds Believed in God
Tess Rechtweg & Ryan Rosenthal for The Roswell Report
Production Design
Blair Taller for The Weathermen
Grace Musser for The Alternative Resolution
Seraa Sharma for What Brings You Here Tonight?
Vivian Zhang for rishta
Screenwriting
Colby Amos for Cherry Picking
Julia Song for Yellow Tinted Glasses
Rhodri Beynon for Mates
Ryan Barnett for Man of the House
Zane Rizvi-Riemer for Debt I Owe
Sound Design
Haina Zhou for Beneath The Fog
Margeaux McCaughey for MIMIC
Nadav Shelly for Hullabaloo
Ting Su for Your City
Sound Editing
Briar Chung & Thomas Wu for Ān-dé-lǔ
Camden Colquhoun & Maya Koenig for The Oilman’s Daughter
Nadav Shelly for Hullabaloo
Ting Su for Your City
Acting
Adam Budron for If Birds Believed in God
Ana Gates Shields for Night of Silence
Brianna Feng for Mr. Whiskers
Dipti Mehta for Zaban
Eden Gabay for Walking Shadow
Egor Trukhin for Hullabaloo
Jeffrey Roth for The Alternative Resolution
Jonathan Dimacali for Smoke Don't Clear
Joseph Y. Lee for Ān-dé-lǔ
Joya Jabbour for Alya
Maliq Johnson for The Tenets of Belrose-Marr
Michael Kishon for Die by the Schtick
Salif Soumahoro for The Lion of Teranga
Venus Rosete-Medeiros for Sons Are Not Earthbound
Acting Ensemble
Ān-dé-lǔ
Ants Hill
Cherry Picking
I Constantly Thank God for Esteban
Mates
Monkey Drum
Mr. Whiskers
rishta
Say I Love You
Smoke Don't Clear
The Alternative Resolution
The Delegate
Three Thanksgivings