After a nail-biting weekend for the ten finalists at Pinewood Studios, the judges of the Pitch, including David Suchet and Nick Park have chosen 27-year-old Simeon Lumgair from Streatham, South London, as the winner.

Simeon’s pitch, called A Runaway Slave, is based on the book of Philemon. However, rather than set his pitch in biblical times, Simeon took the book’s story about the runaway slave Onesimus and moved it to a future setting.

The judges said they were impressed by Simeon’s vision and the way he had given a contemporary take on the original story. They also said they had been impressed by the variety and extremely high standard of the final ten pitches.    

Nev Pierce, editor-at-large of Empire film magazine, said, 'One of the ten finalists presented the story of the Prodigal son as a kind of disaster movie. Another wanted to turn the tale of little-known character Lamech into an 18th century story of paranoia, infidelity and death.

'The variety was impressive. Stories are how we make sense of the world and biblical stories, incidents and themes infuse Hollywood movies to a surprising extent – from the frogs of Magnolia (Exodus 8.12) to Neo's resurrection in The Matrix.

'It’ll be fascinating to see how The Pitch turns out and to see even more entrants next year, striving for a not insignificant prize.'

Actor David Suchet said, 'The Pitch is very important for potential film makers because Bible Society has a brief to nurture, bring on and encourage which is wonderful. I don’t know of any other organisation doing this. Giving a budding film maker the chance to realise their ambition - as they make a pitch of their idea - is real generosity on the part of Bible Society.'

There were two runners-up.Gavin Bryce, from Edinburgh, submitted a pitch called Three Days. Based on Paul’s conversion (Acts 9.9), it is set in a psychiatric hospital.

Daniel Parkes, from Brighton, entered a pitch called At the Eleventh Hour. This pre-apocalyptic take on the Prodigal Son is set in an underground bunker.

Note to Editors

The judges were: BBC documentary-maker Anna Cox; composer Martin Kiszko (The Killing of John Lennon); Oscar-winning creator of Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park; actor David Suchet and Nev Pierce, editor-at-large, Empire magazine.

Please contact Rachel Ward on 07545 924983 for more information.