The Film-Lover's Check List: Winners of Oscars in Writing Categories

Winners of Oscars in Writing Categories

Academy Award for Best Story


1927-28.	Underworld (1927)
1930-31.	The Dawn Patrol (1930)
1931-32.	The Champ (1931)
1932-33.	One Way Passage (1932)
1934.	Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
1935.	The Scoundrel (1935)
1936.	The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)
1937.	A Star Is Born (1937)
1938.	Boys Town (1938)
1939.	Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
1940.	Arise, My Love (1940)
1941.	Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
1941.	49th Parallel (1941)
1943.	The Human Comedy (1943)
1944.	Going My Way (1944)
1945.	The House On 92nd Street (1945)
1945.	Perfect Strangers (1945)
1947.	Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
1948.	The Search (1948)
1949.	The Stratton Story (1949)
1950.	Panic In the Streets (1950)
1950.	Seven Days To Noon (1950)
1952.	The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)
1953.	Roman Holiday (1953)
1954.	Broken Lance (1954)
1955.	Love Me Or Leave Me (1955)
1956.	The Brave One (1956)

Writing Achievement


1928-29.	The Patriot (1928)
1929-30.	The Big House (1930)

Best Screenplay


1929-30.	The Informer (1935)
1929-30.	The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)
1929-30.	The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
1929-30.	Pygmalion (1938)
1929-30.	Gone With the Wind (1939)
1929-30.	The Philadelphia Story (1940)
1929-30.	Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
1929-30.	Mrs. Miniver (1942)
1943.	Casablanca (1942)
1944.	Going My Way (1944)
1945.	The Lost Weekend (1945)
1946.	The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
1947.	Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
1948.	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
1949.	A Letter To Three Wives (1949)
1950.	All About Eve (1950)
1951.	A Place In the Sun (1951)
1952.	The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
1953.	From Here To Eternity (1953)
1954.	The Country Girl (1954)
1955.	Marty (1955)

Best Original Screenplay


1940.	The Great McGinty (1940)
1941.	Citizen Kane (1941)
1942.	Woman of the Year (1942)
1943.	Princess O'Rourke (1943)
1944.	Wilson (1944)
1944.	Marie-Louise (1944)
1945.	The Seventh Veil (1945)
1947.	The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
1949.	Battleground (1949)
1950.	Sunset Boulevard (1950)
1951.	An American In Paris (1951)
1951.	The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
1953.	Titanic (1953)
1954.	On the Waterfront (1954)
1955.	Interrupted Melody (1955)
1956.	The Red Balloon (1956)
1957.	Designing Woman (1957)
1958.	The Defiant Ones (1958)
1959.	Pillow Talk (1959)
1960.	The Apartment (1960)
1961.	Splendor In the Grass (1961)
1962.	Divorce, Italian Style (1961)
1963.	How the West Was Won (1962)
1964.	Father Goose (1964)
1965.	Darling (1965)
1966.	A Man and a Woman (1966)
1967.	Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967)
1968.	The Producers (1968)
1969.	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
1970.	Patton (1970)
1971.	The Hospital (1971)
1972.	The Candidate (1972)
1973.	The Sting (1973)
1974.	Chinatown (1974)
1975.	Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
1976.	Network (1976)
1977.	Annie Hall (1977)
1978.	Coming Home (1978)
1979.	Breaking Away (1979)
1980.	Melvin and Howard (1980)
1981.	Chariots of Fire (1981)
1982.	Gandhi (1982)
1983.	Tender Mercies (1983)
1984.	Places In the Heart (1984)
1985.	Witness (1985)
1986.	Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
1987.	Moonstruck (1987)
1988.	Rain Man (1988)
1989.	Dead Poets Society (1989)
1990.	Ghost (1990)
1991.	Thelma & Louise (1991)
1992.	The Crying Game (1992)
1993.	The Piano (1993)
1994.	Pulp Fiction (1994)
1995.	The Usual Suspects (1995)
1996.	Fargo (1996)
1997.	Good Will Hunting (1997)
1998.	Shakespeare In Love (1998)
1999.	American Beauty (1999)
2000.	Almost Famous (2000)
2001.	Gosford Park (2001)
2002.	Talk To Her (2002)
2003.	Lost In Translation (2003)
2004.	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
2005.	Crash (2005)
2006.	Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
2007.	Juno (2007)
2008.	Milk (2008)
2009.	The Hurt Locker (2009)
2010.	The King's Speech (2010)
2011.	Midnight In Paris (2011)

Best Adapted Screenplay


1927-28.	7th Heaven (1927)
1930-31.	Cimarron (1931)
1931-32.	Bad Girl (1931)
1932-33.	Little Women (1933)
1934.	It Happened One Night (1934)
1956.	Around the World In 80 Days (1956)
1957.	The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957)
1958.	Gigi (1958)
1959.	Room At the Top (1959)
1960.	Elmer Gantry (1960)
1961.	Judgment At Nuremberg (1961)
1962.	To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
1963.	Tom Jones (1963)
1964.	Becket (1964)
1965.	Dr. Zhivago (1965)
1966.	A Man For All Seasons (1966)
1967.	In the Heat of the Night (1967)
1968.	The Lion In Winter (1968)
1969.	Midnight Cowboy (1969)
1970.	MAS*H (1970)
1971.	The French Connection (1971)
1972.	The Godfather (1972)
1973.	The Exorcist (1973)
1974.	The Godfather, Part II (1974)
1975.	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
1976.	All the President's Men (1976)
1977.	Julia (1977)
1978.	Midnight Express (1978)
1979.	Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
1980.	Ordinary People (1980)
1981.	On Golden Pond (1981)
1982.	Missing (1982)
1983.	Terms of Endearment (1983)
1984.	Amadeus (1984)
1985.	Out of Africa (1985)
1986.	A Room With a View (1986)
1987.	The Last Emperor (1987)
1988.	Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
1989.	Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
1990.	Dances With Wolves (1990)
1991.	The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
1992.	Howards End (1992)
1993.	Schindler's List (1993)
1994.	Forrest Gump (1994)
1995.	Sense and Sensibility (1995)
1996.	Sling Blade (1996)
1997.	L.A. Confidential (1997)
1998.	Gods and Monsters (1998)
1999.	The Cider House Rules (1999)
2000.	Traffic (2000)
2001.	A Beautiful Mind (2001)
2002.	The Pianist (2002)
2003.	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
2004.	Sideways (2004)
2005.	Brokeback Mountain (2005)
2006.	The Departed (2006)
2007.	No Country For Old Men (2007)
2008.	Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
2009.	Precious (2009)
2010.	The Social Network (2010)
2011.	The Descendants (2011)

The names and functions of the Academy Awards for writing have changed over the years. In the first year, the writing categories were "Best Story" and "Best Writing, Adaptation". For the following two ceremonies, the categories were combined into "Best Writing Achievement". In 1931 they were again split into "Best Story" and "Best Writing, Adaptation", but in 1935 "Best Writing, Adaptation" became "Best Writing, Screenplay". In 1940, "Best Original Screenplay" was added alongside "Best Story". In 1956 "Best Writing, Screenplay" became "Best Adapted Screenplay", and the following year "Best Story" was combined with "Best Original Screenplay".