The 2026 Humanitas Prize nominations have been announced, honoring television and film writers for work that explores the human condition. Drama Teleplay contenders include Chicago Med, Grey’s Anatomy, Paradise, and The Testaments, while Comedy Teleplay nominees include Abbott Elementary, Long Story Short, Resident Alien, and Shrinking. In the Limited Series Teleplay race, Beef, DTF St. Louis, Hal & Harper, and Washington Black will compete.
On the film side, All That’s Left of You, Preparation for the Next Life, Song Sung Blue, and Train Dreams are up for Drama Feature, while Elio, Grow, Hoppers, and KPop Demon Hunters compete for Family Feature. The Baltimorons, The Invite, A Nice Indian Boy, and Rental Family round out the Comedy Feature category.
This year’s awards will be held Sept. 9 at Avalon Hollywood and hosted by writer-comedian Ashley Nicole Black. The ceremony will also announce the 2026 New Voices Fellows, College Screenwriting Awards, and Starz #TakeTheLead Award. My So-Called Life creator and Wicked co-writer Winnie Holzman will receive the Kieser Award, which recognizes writers who have devoted their work to stories that celebrate common humanity.
See the complete list of 2026 Humanitas Prize nominees below.
Drama Teleplay
Chicago Med (“The Book of Charles”): Allen MacDonald
Grey’s Anatomy (“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”): Jess Righthand
Paradise (“Graceland”): Dan Fogelman, Eric Wen
The Testaments (“Stadium”): Gianna Sobol
Comedy Teleplay
Abbott Elementary (“Goofgirl”): Justin Tan
Long Story Short (“Yoshi’s Bar Mitzvah”): Raphael Bob-Waksberg
Resident Alien (“The End is Here”): Chris Sheridan
Shrinking (“My Bad”): Brian Gallivan
Limited Series Teleplay
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
Washington Black (“The Flying Man & the Musician”): Selwyn Hinds
Children’s Teleplay
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
Tab Time (“When We Lose Someone”): Sean Presant
Drama Feature
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
A Nice Indian Boy: Eric Randall
Rental Family: Hikari, Stephen Blahut
The Invite: Will McCormack, Rashida Jones
The Baltimorons: Jay Duplass, Michael Strassner
Family Feature
Elio: Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones, Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi
Grow: Nick Güthe, Christos N. Gage, Ruth Fletcher Gage
Hoppers: Jesse Andrews, Daniel Chong
KPop Demon Hunters: Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan
Short Film
“Beyond Unstoppable”: Valerie Alexander
“Double Happiness”: Shari Albert, Laura LeeLun
“The Birthday Gift”: Stephanie Alison Walker, Paula Pizzi
“Vital”: Amir Zargara, Gabe Berry
Documentary (Feature)
Come See Me in the Good Light: Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen
The Tale of Silyan: Tamara Kotevska
Life After: Reid Davenport, Colleen Cassingham
Shuffle: Benjamin Flaherty
Documentary (Docuseries, Single Episode)
Billy Joel: And So It Goes (“Part Two”): Susan Lacy, Jessica Levin
Katrina: Come Hell and High Water (“Shelter of Last Resort”): Samantha Knowles
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
