Sheila Curran Bernard is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning writer, filmmaker, and consultant with expertise in applying the tools of creative writing to the creation of high-quality, nonfiction media. She has played a leading role in creating, developing, and overseeing projects for national and international broadcast, theatrical release, and museum and classroom use -- work that is often strategically leveraged to enhance impact through the simultaneous development of components for the web, teacher development, and community-based public engagement.

Bernard’s broadcast credits include nearly 50 hours of programming carried nationally on public television, including the series Eyes on the Prize and School: The Story of American Public Education, for which she also co-wrote the companion book (Beacon Press 2001). Additional broadcast credits include films for HBO and Lifetime.  Her theatrical documentary credits include the giant-screen science film  Wired to Win, now in international release, for which she helped write the final script.

Bernard is the author of Documentary Storytelling (Focal Press/Elsevier 2007, 2003), a best-selling text now going into third edition. She and Kenn Rabin co-authored Archival Storytelling (Focal Press/Elsevier 2008), a look at the ways in which filmmakers access and use third-party-owned materials.

Recognition for Bernard’s documentary work includes a national Emmy Award for writing, the George Foster Peabody Award, the Cine Golden Eagle, and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.

She has also been honored with fellowships at the MacDowell Colony for the Arts and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.  Staged readings of her dramatic work have been held in New York City and in Portland, Maine, and she has been a finalist in competitions including the Nantucket Film Festival Screenwriting Competition, the New Plays in America Festival, the Sundance Filmmakers Lab, and the Lamia Ink! competition.

Bernard’s teaching includes appointments at Westbrook College and Princeton University. She is currently on the faculty at the University at Albany, SUNY (Click here for CV).  She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College and a B.S. in Communication from Boston University.