2024 Humanitas Prize Winners: Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin,’ ‘Fellow Travelers,’ ‘Hacks,’ ‘Nimona’
Winners of the 2024 Humanitas Prizes were announced and honored last night at the Avalon Hollywood during The 2024 Humanitas Prizes Awards Show & Toast, including Ava DuVernay’s Origin, the animated Nimona and Gavin Steckler’s Jules in the film categories.
The Emmy-winning series Hacks and Emmy-nominated limited series Fellow Travelers were among the television winners at the ceremony co-hosted by June Diane Raphael and Paul Scheer.
The Humanitas Prizes are awarded to writers of film and television projects which explore the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. This year, 56 writers were nominated for their work across nine film and TV categories. During this year’s event, each winner received their trophy and delivered remarks to an audience of industry professionals. Winners also receive a $10,000 cash prize.
Additionally, the New Voices Fellowship Program Advisor, Emmylou Diaz (Station 19, The Watchful Eye), presented the awards to the recipients of the 2024 New Voices Fellowship, The David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award, and The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award. Kathryn Busby, President of Original Programming for STARZ, presented the STARZ #TakeTheLead Award to Jeanine Daniels (Snowfall).
The STARZ #TakeTheLead Award was created as part of the premium streaming platform’s #TakeTheLead commitment to amplifying narratives by, about and for women and underrepresented audiences, and recognizes a writer who has completed the New Voices Fellowship and has demonstrated a dedication to improving representation through their storytelling. As the STARZ #TakeTheLead winner, Jeanine will receive a blind script deal with STARZ, and mentorship and professional development for one year from STARZ executives.
Humanitas has honored and empowered television and film writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced way since 1974. Humanitas distinguishes itself among artistic organizations by celebrating stories that explore the human experience, because we believe that the act of acknowledging our common humanity is transformational. Past Humanitas Prize-winning projects include When They See Us, All in the Family, The Handmaid’s Tale, The West Wing, ER, Hidden Figures, black-ish, Silver Linings Playbook, Good Will Hunting, Lady Bird, St. Elsewhere, The Bernie Mac Show, Orange is the New Black, NYPD Blue, 13th, and more. Funds raised at The Humanitas Prizes event provide essential support for The Humanitas Prizes, New Voices Fellowship, College Screenwriting Awards, and Public Programs, like Groceries for Writers, The Writers Room, and Industry 101.
2024 Humanitas Prize Winners
● Drama Feature Film: Origin, Ava DuVernay
● Family Feature: Nimona, Robert L. Baird and Lloyd Taylor
● Comedy Feature Film: Jules, Gavin Steckler
● Documentary: The Cowboy and the Queen, Andrea Nevins and Graham
Clark
● Short Film: The Ballad of Tita and the Machines, Luis Antonio Aldana and
Miguel Angel Caballero
● Drama Teleplay: Black Cake (“Nine Night”), Marissa Jo Cerar
● Comedy Teleplay: Hacks (“Yes, And”), Samantha Riley, Lucia Aniello, Jen
Statsky, and Paul W. Downs
● Limited Series Teleplay: Fellow Travelers (“Your Nuts Roasting on an Open
Fire”), Anya Leta
● Children’s Teleplay: Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (“Ride or Die”),
Halima Lucas
New Voices Fellows
Winners of the New Voices Fellowship program receive $7,500 and are paired with showrunners and screenwriters for one-on-one mentorship focused on a submitted project, participate in a series of professional development workshops, and receive additional benefits.
This year, Alex Gansa (Homeland) will mentor New Voices Fellow Kim Lee Winslow on her pilot Verve, Matt Harris (The Starling) will mentor Lucas Miller on his feature Always, Forever, Michael Lannan (Looking), will mentor AJ Currie on their pilot American Rainbows: Up Stairs, and Molly Smith Metzler (Maid) will mentor Mads
Summerfield on her pilot Sideshow, and Martín Zimmerman (Ozark) will mentor George Pérez on his pilot EL TITÁN.
College Screenwriting Awards Winners
Recipients of The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award and the David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award receive a $20,000 award and additional benefits. Recognized at the event were:
● 2024 The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award Winner: Ina Ycasas
● 2024 The David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award Winner: Anushka Thorat
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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