Paul Haggis’ appearance Monday evening at the Mondavi Center no doubt will draw plenty of aspiring filmmakers from UC Davis.

After all, Haggis directed and co-wrote “Crash,” named best picture at the Academy Awards in 2006, and scripted “Million Dollar Baby,” honored as best picture the previous year. Winner of a screenplay Oscar for “Crash,” Haggis also was nominated for “Baby” and “Letters From Iwo Jima.”

All of this would seem to render him uniquely qualified to offer advice to young people.

“I think I am qualified to tell people what not to do,” Haggis, 56, said with a laugh. “They can look at my career and say, ‘We should be smarter than that.’ ”

He’s being modest, of course, but he did take a circuitous route to becoming one of the most sought-after screenwriters and directors in Hollywood. For much of his career, Haggis worked in television – on cartoons, sitcoms, dramas and however you choose to classify “Walker, Texas Ranger,” the long-running Chuck Norris series co-created by Haggis.

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2006 PAGE Award winner Davah Avena is now on the writing staff of the hit TV series “Medium.” Davah’s episode “How to Make a Killing in Big Business: Part 3” aired on NBC on Monday night.

Over the past five years, the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards contest has developed a reputation for discovering and promoting some of the most talented new screenwriters from across the country and around the world. Since receiving their prizes, many PAGE Award winners have gone on to land writing assignments, secure representation, and sign option agreements on their winning scripts, and several now have movies and television shows in various stages of production and release.

More news from past PAGE Award Winners:

The 2008 PAGE Silver Prize-winning short film A LOST AND FOUND BOX OF HUMAN SENSATION, by Martin Wallner, is being produced by Dancing Squirrel GbR and Lailaps Pictures at the Trixter production facilities in Munich, Germany. Joseph Fiennes is voicing the animated short.

The 2008 Gold Prize-winning sitcom pilot “Control Alt Delete,” by U.K. scribe Simeon Goulden, has been optioned by Company Pictures. Simeon is now represented by the Curtis Brown Agency in London.

2008 Silver Prize winners Michael and Jessica Brody have been signed by manager Margery Walshaw. Jessica’s debut novel “The Fidelity Files” was released last year by St. Martin’s Press and the book was recently optioned to Marina Grasic (executive producer of CRASH, ALPHA DOG, SMART PEOPLE).

2007 Silver Prize winner David Bishop recently completed his 40th issue of The Phantom comic book and celebrated the publication of his 19th novel. David’s “Doctor Who” audio drama “Enemy of the Daleks” is scheduled to be released later this month. He also recently wrote a successful trial script for the BBC medical drama series “Doctors,” and as a result was invited on to a BBC shadow scheme for emerging writers.

2006 Bronze Prize winner Zack Van Eyck has optioned his new screenplay ALLEY CATS to producer/director Patrick T. Brown of Bad Turtle Productions. Zack already has one completed movie under his belt, five features in development and pre-production, and six short scripts sold.

2008 Gold Prize winner Steve Warren has been hired by producer/director Mariusz Kotowski of Bright Shining City Productions to pen a new multi-episode TV series.

2007 Bronze Prize winner Ehud Lavski has been signed by Mike Goldberg and Josh Adler at Abstract Entertainment in L.A.

2005 Bronze Prize winner Dylan Costello has been signed by Gary Wild of Jill Foster, Ltd. in London.

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The Final Entry Deadline for the 2009 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards competition is Friday, May 15th. This year the PAGE judges will once again be presenting a total of 31 awards in ten different genre categories. The winning screenwriters will receive a total of over $50,000 in Cash and Prizes – including a huge new $25,000 Grand Prize – as well as extensive publicity and industry exposure for their winning scripts.

Most importantly, the PAGE Awards competition is judged entirely by working professionals in the film and television industry, so all contestants have the opportunity to get their work into the hands of Hollywood insiders currently in search of new talent.

For more information about this year’s PAGE Awards contest, please visit: www.pageawards.com