Ava DuVernay’s ‘Origin,’ Max’s ‘Hacks,’ Showtime’s ‘Fellow Travelers’ Among Humanitas Prize 2024 Winners

Michael Schneider
·4-min read

“Hacks,” “Fellow Travelers,” “Black Cake” and Ava DuVernay’s “Origin” were among the big winners on Thursday as Humanitas revealed its 2024 Humanitas Prize recipients. The ceremony, held at Avalon Hollywood, revealed honors in nine juried categories, including TV, film and documentary fields.

“We actually got something friends,” “Origin” filmmaker Ava DuVernay said in accepting the award for drama feature — which had been previously snubbed through last year’s Oscars season. “We went through that whole awards gauntlet, and then this popped up in the summer, and I thought, ‘wow, they’re kind of off kilter for the award season!’ Because they don’t care about that… they’re doing something different. This award show that is about doing something with this medium that matters. Yes, entertainment matters, but we have such a powerful voice, such a powerful platform. So I commend everyone that’s trying to say something.”

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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 prize for the episode “Your Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire.”

Other major winners included Andrea Nevins and Graham Clark for the documentary “”The Cowboy and the Queen,” and Gavin Steckler for the comedy feature “Jules.”

The Humanitas Prize, which is celebrating 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 on Thursday night at Avalon Hollywood.

“You have all spent countless hours crafting and collaborating on something that Taylor Sheridan can do, apparently, in ten minutes,” Scheer quipped. Joked Raphael: “Tonight, we honor the most talented writers who did not have their passion projects shelved by David Zaslav 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.

Here are the 2024 Humanitas Prize winners:

Drama Teleplay

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

Comedy 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” (“Your Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire”) — Anya Leta
“All the Light We Cannot See” (“Episode 1”) — Steven Knight
“The Sympathizer” (“Endings Are Hard, Aren’t They?”) — Park Chan-wook, Don
McKellar
“We Were the Lucky Ones” (“Rio”) — Erica Lipez

Children’s Teleplay

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”— J.A. Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques-Olarreaga,
Nicolás Casariego
“Suncoast” — Laura Chinn

Comedy Feature Film

WINNER: “Jules” — Gavin Steckler
“American Fiction” — Cord Jefferson
“Flora and Son” — John Carney
“The Holdovers” — 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 Me” — 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
“Astonishing 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 its “Industry 101” event series, “The Writers Room” program for high school students and the “Groceries for Writers” project.

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