Ava DuVernay’s origins, Max’s hacks among the winners of the 2024 Humanitas Prize

“Hacks,” “Fellow Travelers,” “Black Cake” and Ava DuVernay’s “Origins” were among the big winners Thursday when Humanitas announced the winners of the 2024 Humanitas Prize. The ceremony, held at Avalon Hollywood, saw awards presented in nine jury categories, including television, film and documentary.

“We really have something, friends,” said “Origins” filmmaker Ava DuVernay as she accepted the drama film award — which had previously been snubbed during last year’s Oscars season. “We went through that whole awards show thing, and then this came up in the summer and I thought, ‘wow, they’re kind of out of balance for awards season!’ Because they don’t care… they’re doing something else. This awards show is about doing something with this medium that matters. Yes, entertainment is important, but we have such a powerful voice, such a powerful platform anyone trying to say something.”

Max’s “Hacks” season 3 episode “Yes, And” (written by Samantha Riley, Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky and Paul W. Downs) was recognized for TV comedy teleplay, while Hulu’s “Black Cake” episode “Nine Night” (written by Marissa Jo Cerar) won for TV drama teleplay and Showtime’s “Fellow Travelers” (written by Anya Leta) won the limited series teleplay award for the episode “Your Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire.”

Other big winners included Andrea Nevins and Graham Clark for the documentary ‘The Cowboy and the Queen’ and Gavin Steckler for the comedy film ‘Jules’.

The Humanitas Prize, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, recognizes writers for their work in exploring the human condition “in a nuanced, meaningful way.” Actors/writers June Diane Raphael and Paul Scheer hosted this year’s Humanitas Prizes event, which took place Thursday evening at Avalon Hollywood.

“You all spent countless hours dreaming up and collaborating on something that Taylor Sheridan can apparently do in 10 minutes,” Scheer joked. Raphael joked: “Tonight we honor the most talented writers whose passion projects David Zaslav hasn’t shelved for tax purposes.”

The 2024 New Voices Fellowship, David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award and Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award were also presented at The Humanitas Prizes Award Show & Toast. The new Starz #TakeTheLead Award was presented to “Snowfall” writer Jeanine Daniels.

These are the winners of the Humanitas Prize 2024:

Drama Telescope

WINNER: “Black Cake” (“Nine Night”) — Marissa Jo Cerar
“The Crown” (“Ritz”) – Meriel Sheibani-Clare, Peter Morgan
“The Morning Show” (“White Noise”) — Joshua Allen
“Station 19” (“With so little to be sure of”) – Rochelle Zimmerman

Comic teleplay

WINNER: “Hacks” (“Yes, And”) — Samantha Riley, Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky, Paul W. Downs
“Act Your Age” (“Snip Snip”) – Myles Warden, Capri Sampson
“Girls5eva” (“Bomont”) – Meredith Scardino, Janine Brito
“The Simpsons” (“Night of the Living Wage”) – Cesar Mazariegos

Limited series teleplay

WINNER: “Fellow Travelers” (“Roasting your nuts on an open fire”) – Anya Leta
“All the Light We Can’t See” (“Episode 1”) – Steven Knight
“The Sympathizer” (“Ends are hard, aren’t they?”) — Park Chan-wook, Don
McKellar
“We Were the Lucky Ones” (“Rio”) — Erica Lipez

Children’s telescope

WINNER: “Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” (“Ride or Die”) — Halima Lucas
“Heartstopper” (“Perfect”) – Alice Oseman
“Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin” — Robb Armstrong, Craig Schulz, Bryan
Schulz, Cornelius Uliano
“What if…?” (“What if… Hela found the ten rings?”) – Matthew Chauncey

Drama feature film

WINNER: “Origin” — Ava DuVernay
“All of us strangers” – Andrew Haigh
“Society of the Snow” – JA Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques-Olarreaga,
Nicolas Casariego
“Sun Coast” – Laura Chinn

Comedy feature film

WINNER: “Jules” — Gavin Steckler
“American Fiction” — Cord Jefferson
“Flora and Son” – John Carney
“The Remains” – David Hemingson

Documentary

WINNER: “The Cowboy and the Queen” — Andrea Nevins, Graham Clark
“El Equipo: the story of the Argentine forensic anthropology team” – Bernardo Ruiz,
Fabian Caballero
“Sexual healing” – Elsbeth Fraanje

Family feature film

WINNER: “Nimona” — Robert L. Baird, Lloyd Taylor
“Elemental” — John Hoberg, Kat Likkel, Brenda Hsueh
“Frybread Face and I” – Billy Luther
“A Million Miles Away” — Bettina Gilois, Hernán Jiménez, Alejandra Márquez Abella

Short film

WINNER: “The Ballad of Tita and the Machines” — Luis Antonio Aldana, Miguel Angel Caballero
“Amazing little feet” – Maegan Houang
“Jelly” – Anndi Jinelle Liggett
“The Rebel Girls” — Felicia D Henderson

The Humanitas Prize ceremony raises support for Humanitas’ New Voices Fellowship, College Screenwriting Awards and other programs, including the “Industry 101” event series, “The Writers Room” program for high school students and the “Groceries for Writers” project .