Win, lose or honorable mention, screenplay competitions will usually email you when the results are in. Usually.

Yet still, when I’m having a slow day and don’t have the inspiration to get new words down on the page, I’ll take some time to update my agent and content submission tracker spreadsheets. (Side note: There’s nothing quite like the special joy of tracking back through three months of emails so you can add the words “form rejection” next to a dozen literary agents names in a Google Sheet. Like a slap to the face on the heels of a shot of bad whiskey.)

Every once in a while, though, spreadsheet tracking unearths a little nugget of gold. Like today, when I saw I still had no result recorded for the Scriptwriter’s Network Hollywood Outreach Program (HOP) contest. Lo and behold, what did I discover when I went over to the contest website: I won! One of two grand prize winners!

It’s the first grand prize win for Happy Jack, which has a handful of semifinalist and quarterfinalist nods from other competitions. I emailed the Scriptwriter’s Network team today to apologize for missing the news and get in touch about claiming the winner’s prizes. So what does winning the HOP mean for Happy Jack? There’s some legitimately exciting stuff in the prize winner’s package.

Here’s a list of the prizes from the contest webpage:

• Receive a one year membership or a one year membership renewal to the Scriptwriters Network (SWN).
• The top three winners will receive a 4-month InkTip Pro Membership. As an InkTip Pro Member, thousands of filmmakers can find and read your scripts, and you’ll be able to pitch directly to production companies every week. With over 3,000 options and 400 movies made, InkTip is the place for independent film.
• The top three winners will meet VIRTUALLY, one-on-one with a Writer and/or Producer.
• The top three winners will meet VIRTUALLY with a Literary Manager.
• The top three winners: Ten (10) Pitches on VPF, the platform for TV/Film professionals seeking scripts and writers to represent. With VPF, writers can submit Written Pitches to 500+ networks/studios, producers and agents with the assurance of a guaranteed response.
• Winners will also receive a Pitch Boot Camp class with Ms. Sargent, SWN’s President, prior to pitching on VPF.
  Arc Studio writing software for the top three winners. Arc Studio goes beyond industry-standard formatting, offering real-time collaboration capabilities, distraction-free design, and advanced story-building tools.
• The top three winners: SWN/We are in the process of retrieving funding and supporters, in order to produce the winning scripts with our production company. We want to make sure you have a chance, at least once, to see your project developed.

I guess the only other thing to say is: LET’S F*ING GO!