“My So-Called Life” creator and “Wicked” writer Winnie Holzman has been tapped to receive Humanitas‘s Kieser Award, while writer/comedian Ashley Nicole Black has been named host of this year’s Humanitas Prizes Award Show & Toast, the org announced Monday.
Also on Monday, Humanitas announced the nominees for this year’s ten Humanitas Prizes, and revealed that Starz is back as the awards show’s key sponsor.
The ceremony, which will also announce the 2026 New Voices Fellows, College Screenwriting Awards and Starz #TakeTheLead Award, will take place at Avalon Hollywood on Sept. 9.
The Humanitas Prize honors “film and television writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way. Prizes are presented at an annual event where winners receive a trophy and a cash prize.” Here are this year’s nominees:
Drama Teleplay
“Chicago Med” (“The Book of Charles”): Allen MacDonald
“Grey’s Anatomy” (“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”): Jess Righthand
“Paradise” (“Graceland”): Dan Fogelman, Eric Wen
“The Testaments” (“Stadium”): Gianna Sobol
Comedy Teleplay
“Abbott Elementary” (“Goofgirl”): Justin Tan
“Long Story Short” (“Yoshi’s Bar Mitzvah”): Raphael Bob-Waksberg
“Resident Alien” (“The End is Here”): Chris Sheridan
“Shrinking” (“My Bad”): Brian Gallivan
Limited Series Teleplay
“Beef” (“Oh, The Comfort, The Inexpressible Comfort”): Lee Sung Jin, Madeleine Pron
“DTF St. Louis” (“No One’s Normal. It Just Looks That Way from Across the Street”): Steven Conrad
“Hal & Harper” (“Are You Watching?”): Cooper Raiff
“Washington Black” (“The Flying Man & the Musician”): Selwyn Hinds
Children’s Teleplay
“E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web” (“Part 3”): Levi Abrino
“My Brother the Minotaur” (“Lunacy and Lorcan”): Mark B. Hodkinson
“The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” (“The Shade of It All”): Tiffany Thomas
“Tab Time” (“When We Lose Someone”): Sean Presant
Drama Feature
“All That’s Left of You”: Cherien Dabis
“Preparation for the Next Life”: Martyna Majok
“Song Sung Blue”: Craig Brewer
“Train Dreams”: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar
Comedy Feature
“A Nice Indian Boy”: Eric Randall
“Rental Family”: Hikari, Stephen Blahut
“The Invite”: Will McCormack, Rashida Jones
“The Baltimorons”: Jay Duplass, Michael Strassner
Family Feature
“Elio”: Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones, Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi
“Grow”: Nick Güthe, Christos N. Gage, Ruth Fletcher Gage
“Hoppers”: Jesse Andrews, Daniel Chong
“KPop Demon Hunters”: Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan
Short Film
“Beyond Unstoppable”: Valerie Alexander
“Double Happiness”: Shari Albert, Laura LeeLun
“The Birthday Gif”t: Stephanie Alison Walker, Paula Pizzi
“crucial”:Amir Zargara, Gabe Berry
Documentary (Feature)
“Come See Me in the Good Light”: Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen
“The Tale of Silyan”: Tamara Kotevska
“Life After”: Reid Davenport, Colleen Cassingham
“Shuffle”: Benjamin Flaherty
Documentary (Docuseries, Single Episode)
“Billy Joel: And So It Goes” (“Part Two”): Susan Lacy, Jessica Levin
“Katrina: Come Hell and High Water” (“Shelter of Last Resort”): Samantha Knowles
“Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!” (“Part Two”):Judd Apatow, Michael Bonfiglio, Joe Beshenkovsky
“Rise of the 49ers” (“We Built This City”): Ryan Kelly, Nick Mascolo
In the case of Holman, the Kieser Award “honors those who have dedicated their substantial talent, work, and resources to creating transformative stories that celebrate our common humanity.” Past winners include Greg Berlanti, Marta Kauffman, John Sacret Young, John Ridley, Jason Katims, Fay Kanin and Bill Moyers.
Besides “My So-Called Life” and “Wicked,” Holzman’s other credits include “Thirtysomething,” “Once and Again: and “Huge.” As an actor, she’s been seen in “Jerry Maguire,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Comeback” and “A Man on the Inside.” Most recently, she co-wrote both screenplays for the movie adaptations of “Wicked.”
“Winnie has consistently explored the complexities of the human condition with compassion, intelligence, and emotional honesty. Winnie’s work has made generations grappling with coming of age and identity feel seen,” said Humanitas executive director Michelle Franke. “We admire her steadfast commitment to mentoring and nurturing writers, as we saw up close when she twice served as a mentor in our New Voices Fellowship program. We are honored to be recognizing her with our top honor, the Kieser Award, this September.”
As for the Starz #TakeTheLead Award, the honor is meant to “amplify narratives by, about and for women and underrepresented audiences.”
“Starz’s generosity has had a profound impact on Humanitas’ work over the last four years, most notably by providing support to our New Voices Fellowship,” Franke said. “In 2026, we’re thrilled to offer the #TakeTheLead Award once again. We’ll share more application details via our website in the coming weeks and more programming details at The Humanitas Prizes event this fall.”
Also, winners of the 2026 New Voices Fellowship, David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award and Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award will be revealed at The Humanitas Prizes Awards Show & Toast.
“The New Voices Fellowship is a six-month mentorship program while the College Screenwriting Awards carry with them professional engagements and significant cash prizes. Lists of semifinalists for the New Voices Fellowship and for the College Screenwriting Awards are available on the organization’s website.”
In addition to being the culminating event of the annual awards program, The Humanitas Prizes Awards Show & Toast raises financial support for the New Voices Fellowship, College Screenwriting Awards and a programs including the Industry 101 event series and The Writers Room program for high school students.
As for Black, the writer/comedian has worked on “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking,” where she also recurs. Her other credits include “Bad Monkey” and “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.”
Source: variety.com
