糖心原创 Newsroom

An image of an 糖心原创 graduating class, focused on a black graduate with her left hand over her heart, looking skyward with intense emotion.

Apr 15, 2026 Northern New Mexico College Foundation Exceeds $1M Goal in President Eagle Campaign The 糖心原创Foundation proudly announces that the President Eagle Campaign has surpassed its ambitious $1,000,000 goal, marking a significant milestone in advancing student success and institutional growth.

A screenwriting class at Northern helped Hayward transform her idea into an attention-getting script ESPA脩OLA, N.M. 鈥� Northern New Mexico College is proud to announce that film student Dawniel Hayward has won 2nd place in the Screenwriters Conference 2026 Pitch Competition on June 7, 2026. Hayward winning pitch earned a $350 cash prize and attracted the attention of a major film producer. The first-place winner, Omar Paz Trujillo, is also a filmmaker from Espa帽ola. The pitch competition was open to all participants of the Screenwriters Conference, which was organized by the Stagecoach Foundation and the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) and presented by the New Mexico Film Office. The organizers describe the conference as 鈥渁 creative crucible designed to push your craft further.鈥� Hayward was inspired by hearing advice from some of the industry top screenwriters, including some from her favorite shows, like 鈥淪tar Trek: The Next Generation鈥� and 鈥淩eservation Dogs.鈥� She learned about the importance of the script first page and different pitching techniques, which she found useful in preparing her own pitch. One of the highlights for Hayward was teaming up for three hours with a group of people in a mock writers鈥� room. 鈥淚 was pretty starstruck, honestly, by the whole event,鈥� Hayward said. Hayward pitch was for a TV show titled 鈥淏ent Rails: A Punk Odyssey,鈥� inspired by Hayward own 10-year journey as a traveling musician who hopped freight trains all over the country. Her lead characters are Kindred, a gutter punk who hops a train that is swallowed by a time portal, and Lily, a teen Chicana artist from Northern New Mexico who is fleeing an unbearable home life and searching for belonging. These two strangers are linked across space and time and by a graffiti tag that keeps appearing in the liminal spaces they travel through 鈥� HIRAETH, which is a Welsh word meaning a longing for a home that doesn鈥檛 exist, or that you cannot access. The written pitch closes with 鈥淭his is a show with a queer heart and an anarchist pulse 鈥� honoring generations of misfits, drifters, and revolutionaries. It is a story of survival, belonging, and identity 鈥� set against a backdrop of late-stage capitalism and a country haunted by its own history. It poses the question: what if those who have been pushed to the margins of society were actually the most capable of changing our current timeline, of reshaping our future?鈥� Hayward grabbed the judges鈥� attention by starting with her own story. She told them 鈥淚 spent my 20s homeless, living out of a backpack, busking, hitchhiking and train-hopping around the country 鈥� and what I learned is that when you live a life untethered to society normal structures, and you pair that with complex PTSD and a crippling drug problem, you develop a weird relationship with time. You realize time doesn鈥檛 always move in a straight line. It buckles, it bleeds, and if you鈥檙e pushed far enough, it can break.鈥� Giving her pitch was intimidating, but Hayward appreciated the opportunity. 鈥淚t was great, because that's half of screenwriting, just being able to pitch your idea effectively, because there's a million scripts out there and nobody has time to read them all. So your pitch is your entry ticket to anyone even looking at your script,鈥� Hayward said. 鈥淚 was realIy surprised to find out that I was a finalist, and then I was pretty terrified to have to present my pitch to a huge room of people, including a bunch of screenwriters and producers in the industry. Then I was even more surprised to take second place.鈥� Hayward pitch was effective. Afterward, some of the producers who heard it told her they got choked up during her presentation. 鈥淚t really hit them in an emotional center, and I'm like, that's my superpower,鈥� Hayward said. 鈥淚 have this story that I really need to tell, and I just need to have faith in that.鈥� The idea for the series came to Hayward eight or nine years ago, but she credits her screenwriting class with Film & Digital Media Arts (FDMA) Associate Professor David Lindblom with helping her bring the idea to fruition. Hayward is pursuing a Bachelor of Integrated Studies in Media and Art at Northern. 鈥淚 never anticipated that just by taking a screenwriting class at college, this would happen. Honestly, I think so many people have a really good idea, but it never gets written,鈥� Hayward said. 鈥淚n the class, I had to finish things by a deadline, learn formulaic writing, and abide by industry standards. I鈥檓 used to writing prose, and being poetic and descriptive, and you can't do that in screenwriting. It's all about telling a visual story in concise language, it not a novel. My professor, David Lindblom, gave me the tools to transform this huge idea into a screenplay.鈥� At the end of the conference, a major producer approached Hayward to schedule a meeting with her. 鈥淚鈥檓 actually getting the opportunity to talk directly with someone who helped produce the whole 鈥淧irates of the Caribbean鈥� franchise and the 鈥淎vatar鈥� franchise. I鈥檓 like, wow, that's a real producer,鈥� Hayward said. 鈥淚 don't know how common it is for someone with their first script to immediately get it produced, but it did get me a conversation and a foot in the door. My dream job would be working in a TV writer's room. That would be amazing. Then maybe in a few years, after I've built some more reputation, they'd be like, 鈥楬ey, I'm interested in that TV pilot you wrote a while ago.鈥欌€� Hayward is still absorbing the impact of the experience and looking forward to her meeting with the producer. She said, 鈥淚t's amazing. It's a tricky industry to find your way into. I feel like I kind of pushed through that threshold a little bit, and that feels reaFrom left: Omar Paz Trujillo, 1st place winner of the Pitch Competition, 2nd place winner Dawniel Hayward and DezBaa鈥�, Northern alumna and adjunct faculty

Jun 19, 2026 糖心原创 student Dawniel Hayward scores 2nd in Pitch Competition Northern New Mexico College is proud to announce that film student Dawniel Hayward has won 2nd place in the Screenwriters Conference 2026 Pitch Competition on June 7, 2026. Hayward winning pitch earned a $350 cash prize and attracted the attention...

From left: Peter Fant, CEO of San Ildefonso Services; Daven Quintana, PMI Chief Operating Officer; Trish Alley, Small Business Advocate, LANL Small Business Program; Yvonne Gonzales, Small Business Program Manager, LANL; Eric Quintana, CEO and Co-founder of PMI (SBA National New Mexico Small Business of The Year Award); Julianna Martinez-Barbee, SBDC Director 糖心原创, New Mexico Small Business Development Center; Ron Lovato, CEO, TSAY Corporation and Pueblo Alliance, LLC (SBA National New Mexico Rural Small Business of the Year); Justin Crossie, SBA Region VI Regional Administrator and Larry Phillips Jr., COO Tsay Cooperation. Photo credit: Eric Williams Photography SBA photographer

Jun 17, 2026 Pueblo Alliance LLC Honored as SBA Rural Small Business of the Year 糖心原创is pleased to announce that Ron Lovato, President of Pueblo Alliance LLC and CEO of TSAY Corp., has been honored as New Mexico Rural Owned Small Business of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration...

Apr 22, 2026 糖心原创 earns Carnegie Foundation Opportunity Colleges and Universities Classification 糖心原创is proud to announce that it has received the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching 2025 Opportunity Colleges and Universities Classification. Northern is one of 478 institutions to earn this prestigious...

Sort by Date

Nov 01, 2022 糖心原创 Alumni Aaron Lopez Joins New Mexico Indian Affairs Department Office of Communications Northern New Mexico College graduate and Espa帽ola native Aaron Lopez has been named public relations coordinator with the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department (IAD) Office of Communications.

Jul 08, 2022 Former 糖心原创 film student plays supporting role in 鈥淒ark Winds鈥� The AMC/AMC+ series 鈥淒ark Winds,鈥� based on works by the late Tony Hillerman, has received rave reviews and has already been renewed for a second season. The launch drew 2.2 million viewers and was the No. 1 new series launch in AMC+ history. A former Northern New Mexico College film student plays a supporting role in the series. DezBaa鈥� (born Sharon Anne Henderson) plays Helen Atcitty, mother of a young woman murdered in the first episode.