The 2026 Humanitas Prize winners were announced Wednesday night at Avalon Hollywood, honoring television and film writers for work that explores the human condition. Paradise won Drama Teleplay for Dan Fogelman and Eric Wen’s “Graceland,” while Shrinking writer Brian Gallivan took Comedy Teleplay for “My Bad.” Washington Black won the Limited Series Teleplay race over Beef, DTF St. Louis, and Hal & Harper, and Tab Time won Children’s Teleplay.
On the film side, Cherien Dabis won Drama Feature for All That’s Left of You, and Hikari and Stephen Blahut took Comedy Feature for Rental Family. Grow won Family Feature over KPop Demon Hunters, Elio, and Hoppers. In the documentary categories, The Tale of Silyan won Documentary Feature, and Katrina: Come Hell and High Water won the docuseries episode prize for “Shelter of Last Resort.” Each winner received a trophy and a $10,000 cash prize.
The ceremony was hosted by writer-comedian Ashley Nicole Black. My So-Called Life creator and Wicked co-writer Winnie Holzman received the Kieser Award, which recognizes writers who have devoted their work to stories that celebrate common humanity. She was introduced by Marshall Herskovitz, who talked about working with Holzman on Thirtysomething. Claire Danes, who starred in My So-Called Life, also saluted Holzman in a video message.
Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies presented the Starz #TakeTheLead Award to Rae Benjamin (The Witcher), who receives a cash prize and a year of mentorship from Starz executives. The 2026 New Voices Fellows are Christina Ingraldi, Leon Lee, Alana Saab, Keith Walker, and Finn Wagstaff. Lauryn Bedford won the Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award, and Omid Iranikhah won the David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award.
See the complete list of 2026 Humanitas Prize winners below.
DRAMA TELEPLAY
WINNER: Paradise (“Graceland”): Dan Fogelman, Eric Wen
Chicago Med (“The Book of Charles”): Allen MacDonald
Grey’s Anatomy (“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”): Jess Righthand
The Testaments (“Stadium”): Gianna Sobol
COMEDY TELEPLAY
WINNER: Shrinking (“My Bad”): Brian Gallivan
Abbott Elementary (“Goofgirl”): Justin Tan
Long Story Short (“Yoshi’s Bar Mitzvah”): Raphael Bob-Waksberg
Resident Alien (“The End is Here”): Chris Sheridan
LIMTED SERIES TELEPLAY
WINNER: Washington Black (“The Flying Man & the Musician”): Selwyn Hinds
Beef (“Oh, The Comfort, The Inexpressible Comfort”): Lee Sung Jin, Madeleine Pron
DTF St. Louis (“No One’s Normal. It Just Looks That Way from Across the Street”): Steven Conrad
Hal & Harper (“Are You Watching?”): Cooper Raiff
CHILDREN’S TELEPLAY
WINNER: Tab Time (“When We Lose Someone”): Sean Presant
E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web (“Part 3”): Levi Abrino
My Brother the Minotaur (“Lunacy and Lorcan”): Mark B. Hodkinson
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (“The Shade of It All”): Tiffany Thomas
DRAMA FEATURE
WINNER: All That’s Left of You: Cherien Dabis
Preparation for the Next Life: Martyna Majok
Song Sung Blue: Craig Brewer
Train Dreams: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar
COMEDY FEATURE
WINNER: Rental Family: Hikari, Stephen Blahut
A Nice Indian Boy: Eric Randall
The Invite: Will McCormack, Rashida Jones
The Baltimorons: Jay Duplass, Michael Strassner
FAMILY FEATURE
WINNER: Grow: Nick Güthe, Christos N. Gage, Ruth Fletcher Gage
Elio: Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones, Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi
Hoppers: Jesse Andrews, Daniel Chong
KPop Demon Hunters: Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan
SHORT FILM
WINNER: “Vital”: Amir Zargara, Gabe Berry
“Beyond Unstoppable”: Valerie Alexander
“Double Happiness”: Shari Albert, Laura LeeLun
“The Birthday Gift”: Stephanie Alison Walker, Paula Pizzi
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
WINNER: The Tale of Silyan: Tamara Kotevska
Come See Me in the Good Light: Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen
Life After: Reid Davenport, Colleen Cassingham
Shuffle: Benjamin Flaherty
DOCUMENTARY (DOCUSERIES, SINGLE EPISODE)
WINNER: Katrina: Come Hell and High Water (“Shelter of Last Resort”): Samantha Knowles
Billy Joel: And So It Goes (“Part Two”): Susan Lacy, Jessica Levin
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! (“Part Two”): Judd Apatow, Michael Bonfiglio, Joe Beshenkovsky
Rise of the 49ers (“We Built This City”): Ryan Kelly, Nick Mascolo
