Academy Award for best adapted screenplay | Academy Award | Britannica

The Academy Award for best adapted screenplay is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, located in Beverly Hills, California. It honors outstanding achievement by screenwriters for a screenplay adapted from another work, such as a play or novel, from a given year, as determined by the academy’s voting members.

At the inaugural Academy Awards ceremony, in 1929, the award recognized the work in films released from August 1, 1927, to August 1, 1928. The next four ceremonies honored work in films released from August to July. The 6th ceremony honored work from August to December, and, beginning with the 7th ceremony (1935), only work in movies released the previous calendar year was eligible for consideration.

This award has a complicated history. In the 1st ceremony (1927–28), an award was given for best adaptation. In the 2nd and 3rd ceremonies (1928–30), an award was given for best writing, with no distinction between original work and adaptations. From the 4th (1930–31) to the 7th (1934) ceremonies, an award was again given for best adaptation. Beginning with the 8th ceremony (1935), a screenplay award was given that was the equivalent of the modern award for best adapted screenplay. At the 29th ceremony (1956), the screenplay category was split into best adaptation and best original screenplay. The award had various names before the academy finally settled on best adapted screenplay for the 75th ceremony (2002). The winning screenwriters are given a gold-plated statuette known as an Oscar.

Below is a list of the winning screenwriters and the films for which they won. The years indicate when the eligible films were released.

1920s and 1930s

• 1927–28: adaptation: Benjamin Glazer (7th Heaven)

• 1928–29: writing: Hans Kraly (The Patriot)

• 1929–30: none

• 1930–31: adaptation: Howard Estabrook (Cimarron)

• 1931–32: adaptation: Edward Burke (Bad Girl)

• 1932–33: adaptation: Victor Heerman and Sarah Y. Mason (Little Women)

• 1934: adaptation: Robert Riskin (It Happened One Night)

• 1936: screenplay: Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney (The Story of Louis Pasteur)

• 1937: screenplay: Norman Reilly Raine, Heinz Herald, and Geza Herczeg (The Life of Emile Zola)

• 1938: screenplay: screenplay and dialogue by George Bernard Shaw; adaptation by W.P. Lipscomb, Cecil Lewis, and Ian Dalrymple (Pygmalion)

1940s and 1950s

• 1942: screenplay: Arthur Wimperis, George Froeschel, James Hilton, and Claudine West (Mrs. Miniver)

• 1943: screenplay: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch (Casablanca)

• 1944: screenplay: Frank Butler and Frank Cavett (Going My Way)

• 1945: screenplay: Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend)

• 1946: screenplay: Robert E. Sherwood (The Best Years of Our Lives)

• 1949: screenplay: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (A Letter to Three Wives)

• 1950: screenplay: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve)

• 1954: screenplay: George Seaton (The Country Girl)

• 1956: James Poe, John Farrow, and S.J. Perelman (Around the World in 80 Days)

• 1957: Michael Wilson, Carl Foreman, and Pierre Boulle (The Bridge on the River Kwai) (Boulle originally received credit for the screenplay, though it had actually been written by blacklisted writers Wilson and Foreman on the basis of Boulle’s novel; Wilson and Foreman received Academy Awards posthumously in 1984.)

• 1959: Neil Paterson (Room at the Top)

1960s and 1970s

• 1964: Edward Anhalt (Becket)

• 1966: Robert Bolt (A Man for All Seasons)

• 1967: Stirling Silliphant (In the Heat of the Night)

• 1970: Ring Lardner, Jr. (M*A*S*H)

• 1977: Alvin Sargent (Julia)

1980s and 1990s

• 1980: Alvin Sargent (Ordinary People)

• 1981: Ernest Thompson (On Golden Pond)

• 1983: James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment)

• 1988: Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons)

• 1992: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (Howards End)

• 1993: Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List)

• 1997: Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential)

• 1998: Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters)

2000s and 2010s

• 2000: Stephen Gaghan (Traffic)

• 2002: Ronald Harwood (The Pianist)

• 2003: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)

• 2009: Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire)

• 2011: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash (The Descendants)

• 2012: Chris Terrio (Argo)

• 2014: Graham Moore (The Imitation Game)

• 2015: Charles Randolph and Adam McKay (The Big Short)

• 2018: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)

2020s

• 2020: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller (The Father)

• 2021: Siân Heder (CODA)

• 2023: Cord Jefferson (American Fiction)

• 2024: Peter Straughan (Conclave)