2025 Writers Guild Awards: Winners Announced

New York and Los Angeles – Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) announced the winners of the 2025 Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing for film, television, streaming, news, radio/audio and promotional categories during concurrent ceremonies.

SCREENPLAY WINNERS

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Anora, Written by Sean Baker; NEON

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Nickel Boys, Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes, Based on the Book The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead; Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Jim Henson: Idea Man, Written by Mark Monroe; Imagine Documentaries

TELEVISION, STREAMING, AND NEWS WINNERS

DRAMA SERIES

Shōgun, Written by Shannon Goss, Maegan Houang, Rachel Kondo, Matt Lambert, Justin Marks, Caillin Puente, Nigel Williams, Emily Yoshida; FX/Hulu

COMEDY SERIES

Hacks, Written by Genevieve Aniello, Lucia Aniello, Guy Branum, Jessica Chaffin, Paul W. Downs, Jess Dweck, Ariel Karlin, Andrew Law, Carol Leifer, Carolyn Lipka, Joe Mande, Aisha Muharrar, Pat Regan, Samantha Riley, Jen Statsky; HBO | Max

NEW SERIES

Shōgun, Written by Shannon Goss, Maegan Houang, Rachel Kondo, Matt Lambert, Justin Marks, Caillin Puente, Nigel Williams, Emily Yoshida; FX/Hulu

LIMITED SERIES

The Penguin, Written by Vladimir Cvetko, Breannah Gibson, Erika L. Johnson, Lauren LeFranc, Corina Maritescu, Megan Martin, John McCutcheon, Shaye Ogbonna, Kira Snyder, Nick Towne, Noelle Valdivia; HBO | Max

TV & STREAMING MOTION PICTURES

The Great Lillian Hall, Written by Elisabeth Seldes Annacone; HBO | Max

ANIMATION

“Saving Favorite Drive-In” (Bob’s Burgers), Written by Katie Crown; Fox

EPISODIC DRAMA

“Anjin” (Shōgun), Written for Television by Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks; FX/Hulu

EPISODIC COMEDY

“Bulletproof” (Hacks), Written by Lucia Aniello & Paul W. Downs & Jen Statsky; HBO | Max

COMEDY/VARIETY SERIES – TALK OR SKETCH

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Senior Writers Daniel O’Brien, Owen Parsons, Charlie Redd, Joanna Rothkopf, Seena Vali Writers Johnathan Appel, Ali Barthwell, Tim Carvell, Liz Hynes, Ryan Ken, Mark Kramer, Sofia Manfredi, John Oliver, Taylor Kay Phillips, Chrissy Shackelford; HBO | Max

COMEDY/VARIETY SPECIALS

Nikki Glaser: Someday You’ll Die, Written by Nikki Glaser; HBO | Max

QUIZ AND AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

Pop Culture Jeopardy!, Writers Marcus Brown, Buzzy Cohen, Michael Davies, Chip Dornell, John Duarte, Mark Gaberman, Debbie Griffin, Michele Loud, Traci Mack, Amy Ozols, Louis Virtel, Billy Wisse; Amazon Prime

DAYTIME DRAMA

The Young and the Restless, Head Writer Amanda L. Beall Writers Susan Banks, Jeff Beldner, Marin Gazzaniga, Lindsay Harrison, Marla Kanelos, Rebecca McCarty, Madeleine Phillips, Dave Ryan; CBS/Paramount +

CHILDREN’S EPISODIC, LONG FORM AND SPECIALS

“Welcome to Spiderwick” (The Spiderwick Chronicles), Written by Aron Eli Coleite; Roku Channel

SHORT FORM STREAMING

Die Hart 3: Hart to Kill, Written by Tripper Clancy; Roku Channel

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT

“Part One: Inferno to Paradise” (Dante), Written by Ric Burns and Riccardo Bruscagli; PBS

NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT 

“Willie Mays Tribute” (CBS Newspath), Written by Gerald Mazza; CBS News

NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY

“The Resistance” (60 Minutes), Written by Scott Pelley, Nicole Young, Kristin Steve; CBS News

DIGITAL NEWS

“What Is Hamas Thinking Now?”, Written by Akbar Shahid Ahmed; HuffPost

RADIO/AUDIO WINNERS

RADIO/AUDIO DOCUMENTARY

“Art on Trial” (One Year: 1990), Written by Evan Chung; Slate

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT

“Passages: Three Women Who Made A Difference”, Written by Gail Lee; CBS News Radio

RADIO/AUDIO NEWS SCRIPT – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY

“Charles Osgood Remembered”, Written by Gail Lee; CBS News Radio

PROMOTIONAL WRITING WINNERS

ON AIR PROMOTION

“Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Voting Ads”, Written by Desireena Almoradie, Angad Bhalla; YouTube

****

The 2025 Writers Guild Awards New York Ceremony was hosted by Roy Wood Jr. (Have I Got News For You, Lonely Flowers) and featured presenters Molly Bernard (Hit Man), Nicholas Alexander Chavez (Monsters), Zach Cherry (Severance), Ronny Chieng (The Daily Show, Love to Hate It), Adriana Diaz (CBS Mornings), Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain), Cole Escola (Oh Mary!), Michael McKean (The Diplomat), Annette O’Toole (Virgin River), Rosie Perez (Before), Meredith Scardino (Girls5Eva), DeWanda Wise (Three Women) and Michael Zegen (The Penguin).

The WGAE presented several honorary special achievement awards:

Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit, Logan) was the recipient of the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement, presented to him by Marielle Heller (Nightbitch); Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso, Scrubs) was the recipient of the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence, presented to him by Matt Tarses (Bad Monkey); and Kathy McGee (CBS News) was the recipient of the Richard B. Jablow Award for Devoted Service to the Guild, presented to her by Greg Iwinski (Last Week Tonight).

Attendees at the New York Ceremony included Sean Baker (Anora), Joslyn Barnes (Nickel Boys), James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Jay Cocks (A Complete Unknown), Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two), Justin Kuritzkes (Challengers), Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), John Hoffman (Only Murders in the Building), Bridget Everett (Somebody Somewhere), Celine Song (Past Lives), Lynn Nottage (She’s Gotta Have It), Ric Burns (Dante), Tony Gilroy (Andor), Samantha Quan (Anora), Murray Hill (Somebody Somewhere) and Christa Miller (Shrinking), among others.

WGAW’s 2025 Writers Guild Awards ceremony was hosted by comedian-writer-producer Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island, Joel Kim Booster: Pyschosexual). Presenters included: Utkarsh Ambudkar (Tick, Tick…Boom!, Ghosts), Eric Bauza (Looney Tunes Cartoons, Bob’s Burgers), Clancy Brown (The Penguin, The Shawshank Redemption), Jordan Firstman (English Teacher, Ms. Marvel), Edwin Lee Gibson (The Bear, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Don Jon, Mr. Corman), Ernie Hudson (The Family Business, Ghostbusters), Diarra Kilpatrick (Diarra from Detroit, Perry Mason), Franklin Leonard (creator of the Black List), Adele Lim (Joy Ride, Crazy Rich Asians), Justine Lupe (Succession, Nobody Wants This), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet), Joe Manganiello (True Blood, One Tree Hill), Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul, Bad Boys: Ride or Die), Kiernan Shipka (The Last Showgirl, Mad Men), Luke Tennie (Shrinking, Nickel Boys), Lisa Ann Walter (Abbot Elementary, The Parent Trap), Cedric Yarbrough (Reno 9-1-1, Juror #2) With special appearances by Gillian Anderson (X-Files, The Crown), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Trumbo), Bill Pullman (Lost Highway, Independence Day), and Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive, Feud: Capote vs. The Swans).

The WGAW presented several honorary special achievement awards:

Legendary screenwriter and director David Lynch (Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man) was posthumously awarded the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, presented by Kyle MacLachlan who also accepted the award on Lynch’s behalf; groundbreaking TV creator Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) received the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement, presented by Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul, Bad Boys: Ride or Die); and RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes received the Paul Selvin Award for their film Nickel Boys (Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes, based on the Book The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead), presented by Black List creator Franklin Leonard. The Selvin Award is given to the script that best embodies the spirit of the constitutional and civil rights and liberties that are indispensable to the survival of free writers everywhere.

PHOTO & VIDEO LINKS:

2025 Writers Guild Awards East PHOTOS

2025 Writers Guild Awards West PHOTOS

Photos: Getty Images

*Writers Guild Awards show clip use for media rebroadcast is limited to a total of ten minutes maximum length.

2025 WGAE ceremony on WGAE’S YouTube Channel

2025 WGAW ceremony on WGAW’s YouTube Channel

The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, streaming, news (broadcast and digital), radio/audio, and promotional categories. The 2025 Writers Guild Awards (77th Annual) were held on Saturday, February 15 at concurrent ceremonies at New York’s Edison Ballroom and Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton. For more information about the 2025 Writers Guild Awards, please visit awards.wga.org or wgaeast.org/awards.

Bonnie Datt and Shannon Walker were Executive Producers of the 2025 Writers Guild Awards in New York. The show was Produced by Caroline Waxler. Head writer: Ann Cohen; writers: Nick Bernardone, David Steven Cohen, Sarah Cooper, Timothy Michael Cooper, Dylan Guerra, Don P. Hooper, Nick Nadel, Bill Scheft and Caroline Waxler. Line Producer: ATD Audio Visual. Clip/Tribute Reel: Ben Garst, Shannon Walker.

WGAE Awards Committee members are Bonnie Datt (chair), Nick Bernardone, Ann Cohen, Sarah Cooper, Timothy Michael Cooper, Dylan Guerra, Don P. Hooper, Lily-Hayes Kaufman, Gail Lee, Nick Nadel, Courtney Simon, Shannon Walker and Caroline Waxler.

Benn Fleishman and Augie Max Vargas are the Executive Producers on the 2025 Writers Guild Awards Los Angeles show, which was directed by Rich Preuss. This year’s writing team was led by head writer Steven Murphy and featured Julian Kiani, and Deborah Byrd was this year’s talent producer.

WGAW Awards Committee members are Patric M. Verrone (chair), Steve Chivers, Elias Davis, Patrick J. Doody, Shelly Goldstein, Zoe Marshall, Scott Saltzburg, and Betsy Thomas.

Please direct New York-based media inquiries regarding the 2025 Writers Guild Awards to Jason Gordon in the WGAE Communications Department at (212) 767-7809 or email: jgordon@wgaeast.org.

Please direct Los Angeles-based media inquiries regarding the 2025 Writers Guild Awards to Bob Hopkinson in the WGAW Communications Department at: (310) 801-8563 or email: bhopkinson@wga.org.

The Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) are labor unions representing writers in motion pictures, television, cable, digital media, and broadcast news. The Guilds negotiate and administer contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of their members; conduct programs, seminars, and events on issues of interest to writers; and present writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America East, visit www.wgaeast.org. For more information on the Writers Guild of America West, visit www.wga.org.

###