The Writers Guild of America, East is proud to announce the creation of the Walter Bernstein Award, which will be presented for the first time at the 69th annual Writers Guild Awards at New York's Edison Ballroom on February 19, 2017.
The first recipient of the Walter Bernstein Award will be Jelani Cobb, whose FRONTLINE documentary POLICING THE POLICE explores the complexities involved in reforming the Newark Police Department and its fractured relationship with the community. Named in honor of one of the Writers Guild of America, East's most distinguished and courageous members, the Walter Bernstein Award is presented to honor writers who have demonstrated with creativity, grace and bravery a willingness to confront social injustice in the face of adversity. Now 97 years-old, Bernstein became a member of the Writers Guild of America, East in December 1954. He was among the writers named to Hollywood's infamous Blacklist in the 1950s and spent the next decade writing under various pseudonyms. He would lampoon the use of "fronts" in his Oscar-nominated screenplay for THE FRONT (1976), a cinematic classic about a small-time bookie (Woody Allen) who becomes the stand-in for a group of blacklisted writers. THE FRONT won the Writers Guild Award for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen in 1977.The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, videogames, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation categories. The awards will be presented at concurrent ceremonies on Sunday, February 19, 2017, in New York City at the Edison Ballroom and in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton. For more information about the 2017 Writers Guild Awards, please visit www.wgaeast.org or www.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.
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