Writers Guild of America Awards

Overview

The Writers Guild of America Awards are the annual peer-voted awards honoring outstanding writing in film, television, streaming, news, radio, and promotional categories. Administered jointly by the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW), the ceremonies are held simultaneously in New York and Los Angeles. The 78th ceremony took place on Sunday, March 8, 2026, one week before the 98th Academy Awards. The New York ceremony was held at the Edison Ballroom, hosted by comedian Roy Wood Jr. The Los Angeles ceremony was held at the JW Marriott L.A. LIVE, hosted by comedian Atsuko Okatsuka and livestreamed on the WGAW YouTube channel.

Only WGA members vote on the awards, and only scripts written under a WGA collective bargaining agreement (or that of an affiliated guild) are eligible for nomination. This restriction means that each year, several critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated screenplays are excluded from WGA consideration. The full WGA Theatrical Screenplay Awards rules and submission form are published on the WGA awards website.

Eligibility and Submission Rules

Theatrical Screenplay Awards

Screenplays must have been written under a WGA collective bargaining agreement or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of an affiliated guild. Affiliated guilds include the Writers Guild of Canada, Writers' Guild of Great Britain, Writers Guild of Ireland, Writers Guild of South Africa, New Zealand Writers Guild, ALMA Sindicato des Guionistas (Spain), Screenwriters Association (India), Screenwriters Guild of Korea, La Guilde Francaise des Scenaristes (France), Scriptwriters Guild of Israel, Societe des Auteurs de Radio, Television et Cinema (Quebec), and Verband Deutscher Drehbuchautoren (Germany).

Key eligibility requirements:

• Films must have been exhibited theatrically in the Los Angeles area for at least one week during the eligibility period of January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025
• Films with simultaneous theatrical and streaming exhibitions are eligible
• Films that had their initial exhibition on television (broadcast, pay, or cable) or were released directly on DVD are not eligible
• For screenplays written under a WGA agreement, a Notice of Tentative Writing Credits must be on file with the WGA and the credit determination must be final
• Writers of source material are not eligible
• Financial core and fee payer non-members are not eligible for nomination

The submission deadline for the 2026 awards was 5:00 p.m. PST on Friday, December 5, 2025. No late submissions are accepted. The production company or any writer who received writing credit may submit. Writer representatives (agents, managers, publicists) may also submit on a writer's behalf. Submissions for films written under an affiliated guild's agreement must include a letter from that guild verifying eligibility.

Documentary Screenplay Award

Documentary screenplays must meet the same guild agreement requirements. Films must have been exhibited theatrically in Los Angeles or New York for at least one week during the eligibility period. The submitted script must be the final script in narrative or AV format, with an on-screen writing credit. Foreign-language documentaries are eligible with English subtitles. The entry form must include a Media Platform URL hosting a digital screener for the judging period.

The Eligibility Gap

The WGA's eligibility rules create a gap between WGA nominees and Oscar nominees each year. For the 2026 awards, several high-profile Oscar-contending screenplays were ineligible for WGA consideration:

• Sentimental Value (Cannes winner, International Feature Oscar entry)
• It Was Just an Accident (Cannes winner, International Feature Oscar entry)
• The Secret Agent (Cannes winner, International Feature Oscar entry)
• Sirat (Cannes winner, International Feature Oscar entry)
• Father Mother Sister Brother (Venice Golden Lion winner, Jim Jarmusch)
• Sorry, Baby (Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting winner, A24)
• Blue Moon (Richard Linklater)
• No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook, South Korean Oscar entry)
• Pillion (Cannes Un Certain Regard winner)
• The History of Sound, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Ballad of a Small Player

Even when a film is otherwise eligible, it must be formally submitted. For example, Kristen Stewart's directorial debut The Chronology of Water was not on the ballot because the studio did not submit it.

When WGA and Oscar nominees overlap, the WGA winner has a strong record of also winning the Academy Award. For the 2026 ceremony, the Adapted Screenplay nominees perfectly mirrored the Oscar nominees, while Original Screenplay had only two overlapping films: Sinners and Marty Supreme.

Key Categories

Screenplay Categories

• Original Screenplay - written directly for the screen without underlying source material
• Adapted Screenplay - based on previously produced or published material
• Documentary Screenplay - documentary writing with on-screen writing credit

Television and Streaming Categories

• Drama Series and Comedy Series
• New Series
• Limited Series
• Episodic Drama and Episodic Comedy
• Long Form: Original and Long Form: Adapted (television movies and limited series)

Special Awards

• Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement - career honor (2026 recipient: James Cameron)
• Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement (2026 recipient: Don Reo)
• Paul Selvin Award - writing that embodies civic values (2026 recipient: Mstyslav Chernov for 2,000 Meters to Andriivka)

History

The WGA Awards trace their origins to 1949, when the Screen Writers Guild (the predecessor to WGA West) held the first ceremony at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles on June 23, 1949. Academy president Charles Brackett emceed, arguing that the new award was needed because of the "lack of press and public recognition for the literary craft." The first ceremony gave four awards: Best Written American comedy, drama, Western, and musical. Admission cost $5.

The ceremony evolved as the Screen Writers Guild merged with radio and TV writers to form the WGA. The dual-ceremony format reflects the fact that WGA East and WGA West operate as separate unions with shared jurisdiction. The Los Angeles Times once called the WGA ceremony "one of the toughest tickets to get in Hollywood" due to its reputation for bawdy, irreverent writer-driven humor.

The awards carry significance beyond recognition because writing credits are among the most consequential determinations in Hollywood. The WGA arbitrates credit disputes, and the awards reinforce the guild's role as the arbiter of screenwriting credit and value. In 2004, the awards show was broadcast on television for the first time. The 78th ceremony in 2026 continued the tradition of simultaneous New York and Los Angeles ceremonies, with the Los Angeles show livestreamed on YouTube for the first time.

Recent Results (78th WGA Awards, March 2026)

Screenplay Winners

• Original Screenplay: Sinners, written by Ryan Coogler; Warner Bros. Pictures
• Adapted Screenplay: One Battle After Another, screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson, screen story by Paul Thomas Anderson, inspired by the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon; Warner Bros. Pictures
• Documentary Screenplay: 2,000 Meters to Andriivka, written by Mstyslav Chernov; Frontline Features

Original Screenplay Nominees

• Black Bag, written by David Koepp; Focus Features
• If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, written by Mary Bronstein; A24
• Marty Supreme, written by Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie; A24
• Sinners, written by Ryan Coogler; Warner Bros. Pictures (winner)
• Weapons, written by Zach Cregger; Warner Bros. Pictures

Adapted Screenplay Nominees

• Bugonia, screenplay by Will Tracy, based on the film Save the Green Planet; Focus Features
• Frankenstein, screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, based on Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley; Netflix
• Hamnet, screenplay by Chloe Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell, based on the novel by Maggie O'Farrell; Focus Features
• One Battle After Another, screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson; Warner Bros. Pictures (winner)
• Train Dreams, screenplay by Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, based on the novella by Denis Johnson; Netflix

Both WGA screenplay winners went on to compete at the Academy Awards the following week. Sinners was nominated for the Original Screenplay Oscar against Marty Supreme, Blue Moon, Sentimental Value, and It Was Just an Accident. One Battle After Another was nominated for the Adapted Screenplay Oscar against Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, and Train Dreams.

Business Impact for Filmmakers

A WGA Award represents peer recognition from the professional community that understands screenwriting craft most intimately. For screenwriters, the award directly influences career trajectory, quote (fee) negotiations, and access to studio assignments. A WGA win or nomination can raise a writer's quote by 25 to 50 percent for subsequent projects and opens doors to higher-tier assignments.

For producers and directors, WGA nominations signal scripts that the writing community considers exceptional. The awards season timing, typically held in early March, positions WGA results as one of the last major guild precursors before the Academy Awards. When WGA and Oscar nominees overlap, the WGA winner has a strong historical record of also winning the Oscar, making the WGA results a reliable predictor for the screenplay categories.

The WGA ceremony also functions as a key networking event for the writing community. Both the New York and Los Angeles ceremonies bring together working writers, showrunners, agents, and executives in a setting that is more informal and writer-centric than other industry ceremonies.

Prestige Tier

The WGA Awards sit alongside the DGA and SAG awards as the most reliable Oscar predictors among guild ceremonies. Because only WGA members vote, and only WGA-covered scripts are eligible, the awards carry a different kind of authority than the Oscars: they represent the judgment of working screenwriters, not the broader industry. When WGA and Oscar nominees overlap, the WGA winner wins the Oscar approximately 80 percent of the time in the screenplay categories.

The key limitation is the eligibility gap. Because international films and non-guild productions are excluded, the WGA often cannot consider the full Oscar field. In 2026, four of the five Oscar Original Screenplay nominees were ineligible for WGA consideration. This means the WGA is a strong predictor when there is overlap, but the overlap itself is not guaranteed. Compared to the BAFTA screenplay categories (which have broader eligibility), the WGA is more restrictive but more purely peer-voted.

Watch

See Also

For guidance on the screenplay development process that leads to award-caliber work, see Screenwriting Development. To understand how writing credits affect profit participation, use the Revenue Forecast Calculator. For evaluating the cost of an awards-season campaign against projected returns, use the Ad Spend Break-Even Calculator.