Mel Nieves
.
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I knew there was something special about the theatre for me, something beyond the regular reality, something that I could get into and transcend and become something other than myself.
Raul Julia

Awards & Recognitions:
Short Screenplays
Caged
2024 Semi-Finalist Widescreen & Music Video Festival
Between a Hotdog and a Hard Place
​
2024 Official Selection PNN Academy Comedy Track Film Festival
2024 Semi-Finalist Widescreen Film & Music Video Festival
2023 Honorable Mention London International Monthly Film Festival
Yazmin & Malik 
2025 Official Selection Festival Angaelica
2024 Finalist Theta Short Film Festival
2024 Finalist Dubai International Cineverse Screenplay Awards
2023 Official Selection Grande Stories Screenplay Competition 
Union Square
2024 Semi-Finalist Widescreen Film & Music Video Festival 
2023 Official Selection Festival Angalica 
J&P4Ever
​
2003 Quarter Finalist American Gem Short Screenplay Competition 
Lester Collins 
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2025 Nominated Best Short Script Yes! Let's make a Movie International Film Festival
2025 Official Selection Festival Angaelica
2024 Finalist Theta Short Film Festival 
2024 Semi-Finalist Widescreen Film & Music Festival
2024 Semi-Finalist Best Short Film ReWind International Film Festival
2021 Semi-Finalist Filmmatic Drama Screenplay Awards


Full Length Screenplays 
Imagine Something Yesterday  
​
2025 Official Selection Festival Angaelica
2024 Official Selection Urban Action Showcase International Action Film Festival
2024 Official Selection 8th Annual Underground Indie Film Festival (Horror-Cult-Sci Fi-Fantasy)
La Potencia (screenplay)
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2024 Official Selection New York Independant Film Festival
​2024 Official Selection Phoenixville Film Festival
2024 Semi-Finalist Widescreen Film & Music Video Festival
2024 Official Selection/Nomination Best Feature Screenplay Toronto Interntional Nollywood Film Festival
2024 Semi-Finalist Feature Film ReWind International Film Festival
2024 Finalist Grande Stories Screenplay Competition
2023 Finalist Reading Film Fest     
2023 Official Selection 13th Annual International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival                                         

Los Abandonados/The Abandoned
2025 Nominated Best Feature Screenplay Yes! Let's make a Movie International Film Festival
2024 Semi-Finalist Widescreen Film & Music Video Festival
​2024 Semi-Finalist Kalaburagi International Film Festival
​2023 Official Selection Festival Angalica
2022 Best Dramatic Screenplay 12th Annual International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival     
2022 Official Selection DraftOut Screenwriting Contest 

In Da Boogie Down (screenplay)
​
2025 Official/Nominee Selection Urban Action Showcase International Action Film Festival
2024 Nomination Best Screenplay for Feature Film Digital Griffix  Film Awards                                                                              2024 Semi-Finalist Red Flight Pictures Screenplay Awards
2024 Nomination Best Screenplay Feature Film ReWind International Film Festival
Impact 
2021 Best Drama Feature Screenplay Marina del Rey Film Festival
2021 Quarter Finalist Creative World Awards
2021 Semi-Finalist Birmingham Film and Television Festival
2022 Honorable Mention London International Monthly Film Festival

Los Hermanos Dela Cruz (co-writer Mary Perez)   
2024 Semi-Finalist Widescreen Film & Music Video Festival
2024 Finalist Dubai International Cineverse Screenplay Awards
​2021 Finalist Wales International Film Festival
2004 Finalist Sundance Film Institute Film/Writer's Workshop 

The Heights
​
2024 Official Selection Diabolical Horror Film Festival  
2024 Official Selection Urban Action Showcase International Action Film Festival​
2024 Semi-Finalist Widescreen Film & Music Video Festival
2022 Official Selection Bloodstained Indie Film Festival
Instruments of Darkness
​
2025 Finalist Best Unproduced Screenplay 6th Annual Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival 
​
2025 Official/Nominee Selection Urban Action Showcase International Action Film Festival
2024 Semi-Finalist Widescreen Film & Music Video Festival

One hour television pilot
On The Boulevard
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2024 Official Selection 14th Annual International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival
2024 Semi-Finalist Film & Music Video Festival
2024 Finalist Dubai International Cineverse Screenplay Awards
​2024 Official Selection/Nomination Best screenplay under 60 pages Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival
2021 Finalist Creative World Awards
2021 Quarter Finalist Atlanta International Screenplay Awards
2021 Finalist Birmingham Film and Television Festival
2021 Semi-finalist Hollywood International Diversity Film Festival
2020 Quarter Finalist Eighteenth Annual American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition
2020 Award Winner Luis Bunuel Memorial Awards
2020 Award winner L'Age d'Or International Arthouse Film Festival (LIAFF)
2020 Quarter-Finalist Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards 
2020 Semi-Finalist HollyShorts Screenplay Competition


Theatre:
La Potencia 
​
2025 Finalist Spokane Playwrights Laboratory
2023 Semi-Finalist Bay Street Theatre Tidel Wave New Works Festival
2023 Semi-Finalist Premiere Stages Play Festival

Caged
2023 Official Selection Downtown Urban Arts Theatre Festival
TGIF Can't Get Here Soon Enough
2021 Official Selection Downtown Urban Arts Theatre Festival
Prospect Avenue
2020 Top Ten Finalist Brave New World Repertory New Works Festival
Happy, happy. Sad, sad. Close One Eye. It Won't Look So bad. 
2024 Finalist Boise Contemporary Theatre's BIPOC Playwright Festival
2022 Semi-Finalist Wordsmyth Theatre Company Development Reading Series
​2019 Semi-Finalist New Plays for Young Audiences at the Provincetown Playhouse    
2019 Finalist Pegasus PlayLab at the University of Central Florida

The Spirit, The Body & The Blood
2021 Finalist Texas State Black and Latino Playwright Celebration New Play Development Workshop
2019 New Dramatist Semi-Finalist Princess Grace Playwrighting Fellowship,

Frederick Douglass & The Fallen Angels
2025 Semi-Finalist American Blues Theatre Blue Ink Award
2017 Semi-Finalist Eugene O'Neill Playwright Conference
2017 New Dramatist Semi-Finalist Princess Grace Playwrighting Fellowship
2020 The Mix/Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Between a Hot Dog and a Hard Place
2015 Best Short Play Award Downtown Urban Theatre Festival
In Da Boogie Down 
2012 Finalist Metlife Foundation "Nuestra Voces" National Playwrights Competition
Undertow
2012 Third place finalist best short play award Downtown Urban Theatre Festival
Afterloss 
​2012 Finalist for StageWorks/Hudson Play by Play Festival
Night Train
2009 Finalist Second annual New Works festival/Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble
Midnight Mass
2006 Best Play award runner up Metlife Foundation "Nuestra Voces" National Playwrights' Competition
Voices From The Front: W.A.C. Iraq 
2006 NYC Department of Cultural Affairs award 
​Tours of Duty
2005 Co-winner Best Short Play The Downtown Urban Theatre Festival/Arco Entertainment
​
Certificates/Recognitions:
2024 W.A.C. Iraq - Next Stage Press (publication)
2024 Smith & Kraus The Best Women's Stage Monologues (publication)
2024 Smith & Kraus The Best Ten-Minute Plays (publication)
2024 Smith & Kraus The Best Men's Stage Monologues (publication)
2023 Smith & Kraus The Best Women's Stage Monologues (publication)
2023 Full Moon Inside a Red Sky - Next Stage Press (publication)
2023 In Da Boogie Down - Next Stage Press (publication)
2021 Cultural Solidarity Fund
2021 Arts Administrators of Color Network/Arts Leadership of Color Emergency Fund Grant
2021 Prospect Avenue - Next Stage Press (publication)
2019 The Spirit, The Body & The Blood - Next Stage Press (publication)
2019 The Tank Pilot Program Writers group   
2018 LITCouncil Men of Color Playwrighting residency
2018 Los Embrujados/The Haunted Ones/Original Works Publishing (publication)
2013 Northpoint Voices Inside/Out Playwright Residency award
2012 Top Five Finalist for Northpoint Voices Inside/Out Playwright Residency
2011 Top Ten Finalist for Northpoint Voices Inside/Out Playwright Residency
2011 Apple Core Theatre Company Play Commission
2010 Social Drama Training Certificate: Introduction to Sociodrama (parts 1 & 2)/Practicum 
2010 Certificate in Special needs Education: TATI (Teaching Artist Training Institute)
2010 Certificate in Advanced Teaching-Artist Training Program - Community-Word Project     
2007 Certificate in using the arts with the HIV/AIDs Population - Rutgers School of Social Work 
2005 Brooklyn Arts Council ReGrant award
 






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