Fox’s long-running, animated primetime hit, The Simpsons, was among the winners as The Writers Guild of America, west and East held its 57th annual awards ceremony over the weekend. Recognizing outstanding achievement in writing for the screen, television and radio, the gala event was held Saturday at The Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles and the Pierre Hotel in New York.
In the Animation category, scribe Ian Maxtone-Graham won for the Simpsons episode Catch ‘Em If You Can. The installment spoofs the Steven Spielberg feature, Catch Me If You Can, as Homer and Marge try to take a vacation away from the kids and find themselves on the run from their jealous offspring.
The Simpsons dominated the animation category, garnering four out of the five nominations. Other episodes of the show up for the award were “Today I Am A Clown,” written by Joel H. Cohen; “Fraudcast News,” written by Don Payne; and “Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” written by Julie Chambers and David Chambers. The only other toon to get a nod in the category was Cartoon Network’s Justice League, nominated for the episode “Starcrossed,” written by Rich Fogel, John Ridley and Dwayne Mcduffie from a story by Fogel.
In the category News–TV Graphic Animation, the winner was CBS 2 Celebrates Subway Centennial/Sports Block, written by Christopher T. Ingram.
Seinfeld‘s John O’Hurley hosted the West Coast event, where presenters included Alan Alda (The Aviator), Rachel Bilson (The O.C.), Zach Braff (Scrubs), Julie Delpy (Before Sunset), David Duchovny (The X-Files), Craig Ferguson (The Late, Late Show), Dennis Haysbert (24), Anne Heche (Deep Impact), George Lopez (The George Lopez Show), William H. Macy (The Cooler) and Meg Ryan (Anastasia).
The New York event was hosted by actor Charles Grodin. Presenters included directors Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Terry George (Hotel Rwanda), author Art Buchwald and actors Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager) and Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City).
Honorary awards were previously announced and presented to the recipients at the Los Angeles ceremony. David Mamet received Screen Laurel Award; Susan Harris was honored with the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television and Don Payne was given the Paul Selvin Award.
The Writers Guild of America, East Special Awards were presented to John Sayles (Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Lifetime Achievement), John Auerbach (Richard B. Jablow Award for Distinguished Service to the WGAE), and Claire Labine (Evelyn F. Burkey Award for “bringing honor and dignity to writers everywhere”).
For a full list of winners, go to www.wga.org.
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