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30-422: The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist Productions —but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious cinema or TV. The prize is distinguished from similar honors for screenwriters in that

60-680: A cash award, between $ 10,000 and $ 25,000, accompanies each prize. Journalist Barbara Walters once said, "What the Nobel Prize is to literature and the Pulitzer Prize is to journalism, the Humanitas Prize has become for American television." The Humanitas Prizes are annually presented by the nonprofit organization Humanitas, which also operates a host of other programs, including the New Voices Fellowship,

90-503: A Religious Experience . The original purpose of the company was to produce Insight , an American religious-themed weekly anthology series that aired in syndication from October 1960 to January 1985. Insight earned six Emmy Awards during its twenty-three year run. In 1974, the Humanitas Prize for film and television writing was founded by Kieser and the men and women of Paulist Productions. In 1984, Paulist produced

120-509: A box set (including new interviews with cast members and various bonus features) and released on April 15, 2013, through StarVista Entertainment (affiliated with TimeLife). The collection includes 302 songs heard during the series. To mark the show's 25th anniversary, a 21-disc collector's set was released October 1, 2013. Music rights long delayed the release on DVD. More than 250 songs were licensed; seventeen could not be, and were either deleted or replaced. John Sacret Young stated prior to

150-743: A first-look deal with Paulist. In 2020, a documentary film , Fr. Bud: Hollywood Priest , was announced. China Beach China Beach is an American war drama television series set at an evacuation hospital during the Vietnam War . The title refers to My Khe beach in the city of Đà Nẵng, Vietnam , nicknamed "China Beach" in English by American and Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War. The series originally ran on ABC for four seasons from April 27, 1988 to July 22, 1991. Created by William Broyles Jr. and John Sacret Young ,

180-462: A half after many of the scenes were filmed. China Beach debuted in rerun syndication on Lifetime , on November 4, 1991. Before being released on DVD, the series' only home video release was the 97 minute pilot movie on Warner Home Video, in 1990 (cat no. 11971). In December 2012, it was announced that the series, among the most-requested television shows not available through either VHS or DVD following its broadcast run, would be issued on DVD in

210-597: Is not unusual for several years to pass between one writer's winning the prize again. To date the longest gap was the case of China Beach writer-producer John Sacret Young , who won in 1978 for the telefilm Special Olympics , then won his second Humanitas Prize 21 years later for the TV movie Thanks of a Grateful Nation . (Young eventually went on to become a member of the Humanitas Board of Directors, where he served with at least four other repeat prizewinners.) While

240-711: Is president of Paulist Productions. Paulist has generated a range of programming for CBS , The History Channel , Hallmark Hall of Fame and UPtv . Ellwood "Bud" Kieser was born in Philadelphia in 1929. After graduating from La Salle College in 1950, he joined the Paulist Fathers . He earned his Ph.D. in theology of communications from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif. in 1973, writing his dissertation on Cinema as

270-481: The September 11, 2001 attacks . In 2010, Humanitas introduced a program called "New Voices." It is designed to help emerging screen and television writers by pairing them with award-winning writers for a one-on-one mentorship. In season 4, episode 19 of Boston Legal , Carl Sack, played by John Larroquette , stated, "Well, there goes my Humanitas Award," after a long rant against organized religion. By itself, it

300-419: The 2007 Sopranos episode " Stage 5 ," Tony Soprano 's nephew, Christopher Moltisanti , asks J.T. Dolan about his "Human-itis" award. J.T. corrects him, correctly pronouncing "Hu-ma-ni-tas", after which Christopher whacks him on the head with the award. J.T. was played by actor and producer Tim Daly , a previous Humanitas award recipient. The Sopranos creator David Chase is also a previous recipient of

330-551: The ABC prime time special, The Fourth Wise Man . The New York Times reviewer, John J. O'Connor said, "Father Kieser has generally proved adept at attracting first-rate talent to Paulist projects, and The Fourth Wise Man indicates his powers of persuasion are stronger than ever." Adapted by Tom Fontana from the short story by Henry van Dyke Jr. , the film starred Martin Sheen , Eileen Brennan and Alan Arkin . Paulist Pictures

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360-533: The Apostle . Healing and Prayer: Power or Placebo was also produced for A&E . He was followed by Eric Andrews, C.S.P. In 2004, Paulist Productions released the made-for-television film Judas which aired on ABC and was written by writer/producer Tom Fontana , who also served as executive producer . In 2013, Paulist filmed the CBS special A New York Christmas to Remember . The special of Lessons and Carols

390-637: The Humanitas College Screenwriting Awards, and other public event programming. Kieser founded the Human Family Educational and Cultural Institute (dba Humanitas) in 1974 to present the award. Beginning as primarily a television award, the first Humanitas Prize winners were announced on the Today Show . Kieser, Ray Bradbury , and Robert Abernathy announced the first winners in 1975. At that time,

420-544: The Humanitas Prize is awarded to the writers of produced work only, Humanitas also supports un-produced screenwriters. Humanitas annually awards two college students with the Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award and the David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award. The Angell College Comedy Award was founded after David Angell and his wife, Lynn Angell, were killed in the crash of Flight 11 in

450-437: The Humanitas Prize, Kieser determined that the writer was the source of the most humanizing values in any program and should therefore be the focus of the awards. Although lists of Humanitas Prize winners for television categories often tell only the name of the program, the award is made to the writers of specific episodes, and more than one episode of a given show may be among the finalists in any given year; similarly, reports on

480-535: The Humanitas award. In Season 1, episode 5 of The West Wing , the Humanitas Prize is mentioned in a conversation about the importance of storytelling. The Simpsons Episode: "The Book Job" (Season 23, Episode 6) Context: In a humorous exchange, one character mentions the Humanitas Prize while discussing the literary merits of a book, playing on the show's tendency to include clever cultural references. Paulist Productions As of 2018, producer Mike Sullivan

510-514: The awards were divided into three categories, based on program length (30, 60, or 90 minutes and longer); these lengths tend to correspond to comedies, dramas, and telefilms or miniseries , to the extent that some articles refer to the categories by those names. The Kieser Award, a lifetime achievement award , was established after Kieser's death in 2000, and Prizes in Drama, Comedy, and Family Feature Film are currently presented. When establishing

540-616: The experience and its aftermath. The show was inspired in part by the book Home Before Morning (1983) written by the former U.S. Army Nurse Lynda Van Devanter. The show's character Nurse Colleen McMurphy roughly follows Van Devanter's experiences as a nurse in Vietnam. The book takes the reader from Van Devanter's wish to serve her country through the adventure she thought her deployment to Vietnam would be, her culture shock upon returning to "the States", and her struggles with PTSD . The show

570-533: The film categories often give more prominence to the film's title, but the award goes to the writing staff. In 2005 Humanitas winners included Hotel Rwanda (feature film) and The West Wing (television). In 2006, the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth about global warming starring Al Gore was given a "Special Award" for "mak[ing] a significant contribution to the human family by communicating values, forming consciences and motivating human behavior." The most wins—four—by any single program

600-481: The same year. Life with Louie was the only show to win three times in the children's animation category. Writers who have won three times include Aaron Sorkin (for The West Wing and Sports Night ), David E. Kelley ( Picket Fences , The Practice ), David Milch ( Hill Street Blues , NYPD Blue ) and Marshall Herskovitz ( thirtysomething , Once and Again , and the telefilm Special Bulletin ). While at least four writers have had back-to-back wins, it

630-403: The series looks at the Vietnam War from the perspectives of the women, military personnel and civilians who were present during the conflict. John Wells took over most of the series beginning with the second season and many of the show's cast members appeared later on another Wells production, ER . Set at the fictitious 510th Evacuation Hospital and R&R facility (the "Five-and-Dime"),

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660-477: The series' cast of characters includes US Army doctors and nurses, officers, soldiers, Red Cross volunteers and civilian personnel (American, French, and Vietnamese). The series also features the experiences of the characters when they return to the United States, either on leave or at the end of their tours of duty. The show does not shy away from showing the brutality of war; it provides a gritty view of

690-478: The short film He Knows My Name and finished production on the feature film The Miracle Maker . Chris Donahue was president of Paulist Productions from July 2014 to 2018, followed by Michael Sullivan . In 2015 Paulist Productions moved from Pacific Palisades to Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. On September 8, 2015, Deadline Hollywood reported that publisher Author Solutions (an imprint of Penguin) made

720-481: The show's October 2013 DVD release that he was working on a follow-up novel, titled Reflections , in which Colleen, now in her 60s and recently widowed, returned to Vietnam and reconnected with the retired Dick Richard and venture capitalist K.C. Koloski. Young had also hoped to adapt it into a TV movie. However, the novel was never published. The show was inspired in part by a 1983 memoir by Lynda Van Devanter: Two additional memoirs by medical personnel stationed at

750-459: Was a meta-reference to both Larroquette's short-lived eponymous sitcom winning the award in 1995, along with Boston Legal creator David Kelley winning it in 1996 and 2003. The short lived Clerks: The Animated Series parodied the award in its first episode ; main character Dante Hicks mentioned that it was "an award for shows that don't use words like retarded ", to which friend Randal Graves replied, "That's retarded. And queer." In

780-459: Was a critically lauded, but poorly rated series. ABC persisted with the show for four seasons, but the final season was put on hiatus in December 1990 and did not air its finale until July 22, 1991. As a result of the scheduling, Dana Delany was eligible for (and ultimately won) a Best Actress Emmy Award in the fall of 1992, a year after the series broadcast its final episode and over a year and

810-464: Was cancelled before it could fully address McMurphy's PTSD issues. Van Devanter died in 2002. Over four seasons from 1988 to 1991, the series aired 61 episodes and one pilot movie. The title sequence theme song was " Reflections " by Diana Ross & the Supremes (the episode "Phoenix" instead used " We Gotta Get out of This Place " by Eric Burdon with Katrina & The Waves ). China Beach

840-408: Was for writers of the TV series M*A*S*H : Larry Gelbart , 1976; Alan Alda (with James Jay Rubinfier), 1980; and the team of David Pollock and Elias Davis in 1982 and 1983. Several shows won three times including The West Wing , The Wonder Years , Family , Scrubs , thirtysomething , Hill Street Blues , and I'll Fly Away , which once won in the 60- and 90-minute categories in

870-582: Was later formed for the purpose of film production, creating the features Romero (1989) and Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story (1996). After Kieser's death in September 2000, Frank Desiderio, C.S.P. became president of the company. He broadened the scope to produce television documentaries for the History Channel , including Judas - Traitor or Friend , Joseph: The Silent Saint , The Twelve Apostles , St. Peter: The Rock and Paul,

900-480: Was taped at St. Paul the Apostle Church with choirs from St. Paul’s and Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. Telecast on December 24 at 11:35 p.m., it also featured Regis Philbin and the nativity puppetry of Jane Henson . Later productions include The Town That Came A-Courtin ' and Christmas for a Dollar for UpTV, and the short Christmas film No Ordinary Shepherd . Paulist also released

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