by FilmInk Staff
Two-time Austin Film Festival winner Steven Snell has added another international award to his writing credits, taking first prize in the feature screenplay category of the 2026 Selling Your Screenplay Six-Figure Screenplay Contest for his psychological thriller, Skunk Hour.
The win follows two victories at the Austin Film Festival in Texas, one of the screenwriting industry’s most respected events.
Snell first won at Austin in 2017 with Black Mirror: Punchbag, awarded Best One-Hour Television Spec Screenplay. He returned to the winners’ list in 2021 with Minimum Comfortable Distance, which received the Science Fiction Feature Screenplay Award.
His latest success follows a strong showing in international competitions throughout 2026. Skunk Hour and Minimum Comfortable Distance both reached the semi-finals of the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, while the stage adaptation of Skunk Hour was a semi-finalist in the Austin Film Festival’s playwriting competition, placing among the top two per cent of entries.
Skunk Hour centres on a university student who begins to suspect that a friend, for whom he has provided a false alibi, may have committed murder. He enlists the help of his ex-convict older brother, setting in motion a confrontation in which loyalty and the search for truth become increasingly difficult to reconcile.
The Selling Your Screenplay Six-Figure Screenplay Contest recognised the strength of Snell’s dialogue, the atmosphere of the story and his ability to sustain tension within a confined setting.
Snell’s writing career began in theatre. His play Keeper won the George Fairfax Memorial Play Award in 2005, and his work has been produced for stage and radio. He was also an affiliate writer with the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2006.
The latest award includes a cash prize and opportunities to introduce Skunk Hour to producers and other film industry professionals.
