Writer-director Philiane Phang has been named the inaugural winner of The Independent Filmmakers Project’s Phosphate Prize.

IFP launched the prize to recognize narrative-feature-film screenplays that “provide a strong and complex lead female character.” Phang won The Phosphate Prize at IFP for “The Space Between,” her screenplay about a professional female bodybuilder and her relationship with her bedridden father. She was chosen out of more than 260 applicants.

The prize, which includes a $25,000 grant, is meant to help the recipient continue writing and making independent films.

Phang’s directorial debut, “Serena Strong,” screened at the 2014 BET/HBO Urban World Film Festival. She previously won the first inaugural Ammon Foundation Fellowship for a Female Filmmaker at the 2015 Spirit Awards. The former lawyer also took part in the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women this year.

[via ScreenDaily]