Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay

The Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay adapted from previously established material. The most frequently adapted media are novels, but other adapted narrative formats include stage plays, musicals, short stories, TV series, and other films and film characters. All sequels are also considered adaptations by this standard, being based on the story and characters of the original film.

Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
Country	United States
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
First award	1929
Most recent winner	Peter Straughan, Conclave (2024)
Website	oscars.org

Prior to its current name, the award was known as the Academy Award for Best Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium.^[1][2] The Best Adapted Screenplay category has been a part of the Academy Awards since their inception.

Superlatives

The first person to win twice in this category was Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who won the award in two consecutive years, 1949 and 1950. Others to win twice in this category include George Seaton, Robert Bolt (who also won in consecutive years), Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo, Alvin Sargent, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Michael Wilson, Alexander Payne and Christopher Hampton. Payne won both awards as part of a writing team, with Jim Taylor for Sideways and Jim Rash and Nat Faxon for The Descendants. Michael Wilson was blacklisted at the time of his second Oscar, so the award was given to a front (novelist Pierre Boulle). However, the Academy officially recognized him as the winner several years later.^[3]

Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett, Paddy Chayefsky, Francis Ford Coppola, Horton Foote, William Goldman, Robert Benton, Bo Goldman, Waldo Salt, and the Coen brothers have won Oscars for both original and adapted screenplays.

Frances Marion (The Big House) was the first woman to win in any screenplay category, although she won for her original script for Best Writing, which then included both original and adapted screenplays before a separate award for Best Original Screenplay was introduced. Sarah Y. Mason (Little Women) was the first woman to win for adaptation from previously established material; she shared the award with her husband, Victor Heerman. They are also the first of two married couples to win in this category; Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) are the others.

Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney (The Story of Louis Pasteur) were the first to win for adapting their own work.

Philip G. Epstein and Julius J. Epstein (Casablanca) are the first siblings to win in this category. James Goldman (The Lion in Winter) and William Goldman (All the President's Men) are the first siblings to win for separate films. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) are the third winning siblings.

Mario Puzo is the one of two writers whose work has been adapted and resulted in two wins. Puzo's novel The Godfather resulted in wins in 1972 and 1974 for himself and Francis Ford Coppola. The other is E. M. Forster, whose novels A Room with a View and Howards End resulted in wins for Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

Larry McMurtry is the only person who has won for adapting someone else's work (Brokeback Mountain), and whose own work has been adapted by someone else, resulting in a win (Terms of Endearment).

William Monahan (The Departed) and Sian Heder (CODA) are the only people who have won this award by using another full-length feature film as the credited source of the adaptation.

Geoffrey S. Fletcher (Precious), John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Cord Jefferson (American Fiction) are the only African-Americans to win solo in this category; Fletcher is also the first African-American to win in any writing category. Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight) are the first African-American writing duo to win; Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott (BlacKkKlansman) are the second, although their co-writers, David Rabinowitz and Charlie Wachtel, are both white.

James Ivory (Call Me by Your Name) is the oldest person to receive the award at age 89. Charlie Wachtel (BlacKkKlansman) is the youngest at age 32.

Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit) is the first person of Māori descent to receive the award.

Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) is the only winner who has also won for acting.^[4] Winners Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade) and John Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) have been nominated for acting but not won.

Charles Schnee (The Bad and the Beautiful), Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade), and Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) are the only winners whose respective films were not nominated for Best Picture.

Notable nominees

Noted novelists and playwrights nominated in this category include: George Bernard Shaw (who shared an award for an adaptation of his play Pygmalion), Graham Greene, Tennessee Williams, Vladimir Nabokov, James Hilton, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Lillian Hellman, Irwin Shaw, James Agee, Norman Corwin, S. J. Perelman, Terence Rattigan, John Osborne, Robert Bolt, Harold Pinter, David Mamet, Larry McMurtry, Arthur Miller, John Irving, David Hare, Tony Kushner, August Wilson, Florian Zeller and Kazuo Ishiguro.

Ted Elliott, Roger S. H. Schulman, Joe Stillman & Terry Rossio, writers of Shrek and Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich, writers of Toy Story 3, are as of 2020, the only writers to be nominated for an animated film.^[5][6]

Scott Frank, James Mangold and Michael Green, writers of Logan, are the first writers to be nominated for a film based on superhero comic books (the X-Men).^[7][8]

Howard Estabrook won for Cimarron (1931).

Victor Heerman co-won for Little Women (1933).

Sarah Y. Mason co-won for Little Women (1933).

Robert Riskin won for It Happened One Night (1934).

Pierre Collings co-won for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936).

Sidney Howard won the award posthumously for Gone with the Wind (1939).

George Froeschel co-won for Mrs. Miniver (1942).

Julius J. Epstein co-won for Casablanca (1943).

Charles Brackett co-won for The Lost Weekend (1945).

Billy Wilder co-won for The Lost Weekend (1945).

Robert E. Sherwood won for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

John Huston won for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).

Joseph L. Mankiewicz won the award two years in a row, first for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and then for All About Eve (1950).

Paddy Chayefsky won for Marty (1955).

John Farrow co-won for Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

S. J. Perelman co-won for Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

Carl Foreman co-won for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).

Alan Jay Lerner won for Gigi (1958).

Richard Brooks won for Elmer Gantry (1960).

Ring Lardner Jr. won for M*A*S*H (1970).

Francis Ford Coppola co-won the award twice, first for The Godfather (1972) and then for The Godfather Part II (1974).

Mario Puzo co-won the award twice, first for The Godfather (1972) and then for The Godfather Part II (1974).

William Peter Blatty won for The Exorcist (1973), an adaptation of his novel of the same name.

Bo Goldman co-won for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).

William Goldman won for All the President's Men (1976).

Alvin Sargent won the award twice, first for Julia (1977) and then for Ordinary People (1980).

Oliver Stone won for Midnight Express (1978).

Ernest Thompson won for On Golden Pond (1981), an adaptation of his play of the same name.

Costa-Gavras co-won for Missing (1982).

Donald E. Stewart co-won for Missing (1982).

James L. Brooks won for Terms of Endearment (1983).

Peter Shaffer won for Amadeus (1984).

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala won the award twice, first for A Room with a View (1986) and then for Howards End (1992).

Bernardo Bertolucci co-won for The Last Emperor (1987).

Christopher Hampton won the award twice, first as a solo writer for Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and then as a co-writer for The Father (2020).

Alfred Uhry won for Driving Miss Daisy (1989), an adaptation of his play of the same name.

Michael Blake won for Dances with Wolves (1990), an adaptation of his novel of the same name.

Emma Thompson won for Sense and Sensibility (1995).

Billy Bob Thornton won for Sling Blade (1996).

Curtis Hanson co-won for L.A. Confidential (1997).

Brian Helgeland co-won for L.A. Confidential (1997).

John Irving won for The Cider House Rules (1999), an adaptation of his novel of the same name.

Stephen Gaghan won for Traffic (2000).

Akiva Goldsman won for A Beautiful Mind (2001).

Philippa Boyens co-won for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Peter Jackson co-won for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Fran Walsh co-won for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Alexander Payne co-won the award twice, first for Sideways (2004) and then for The Descendants (2011).

Larry McMurtry co-won for Brokeback Mountain (2005).

William Monahan won for The Departed (2006).

The Coen brothers won for No Country for Old Men (2007).

Geoffrey S. Fletcher won for Precious (2009); first Black winner in this category.

Aaron Sorkin won for The Social Network (2010).

Nat Faxon co-won for The Descendants (2011).

Jim Rash co-won for The Descendants (2011).

John Ridley won for 12 Years a Slave (2013).

Graham Moore won for The Imitation Game (2014).

Adam McKay co-won for The Big Short (2015).

Barry Jenkins co-won for Moonlight (2016).

Tarell Alvin McCraney co-won for Moonlight (2016).

James Ivory co-won for Call Me by Your Name (2017).

Spike Lee co-won for BlacKkKlansman (2018).

Taika Waititi won for Jojo Rabbit (2019).

Florian Zeller co-won for The Father (2020), an adaptation of his play of the same name.

Sian Heder won for CODA (2021).

Sarah Polley won for Women Talking (2022).

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first in colored row, followed by the other nominees.

1920s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
1927/28 (1st) [note 1]	7th Heaven	Benjamin Glazer	The play Seventh Heaven by Austin Strong
	Glorious Betsy	Anthony Coldeway	The play by Rida Johnson Young
	The Jazz Singer	Alfred A. Cohn	The play & short story "The Day of Atonement" by Samson Raphaelson
1928/29 (2nd) [note 2]	The Patriot	Hanns Kräly	The novel by Alfred Neumann, play by Ashley Dukes & novel Paul I by Dmitry Merezhkovsky
	The Cop	Elliott J. Clawson	– (original)
	In Old Arizona	Tom Barry	The short story "The Caballero's Way" by O. Henry
	The Last of Mrs. Cheyney	Hanns Kräly	The play by Frederick Lonsdale
	The Leatherneck	Elliott J. Clawson	– (original)
	Our Dancing Daughters	Josephine Lovett	– (original)
	Sal of Singapore	Elliott J. Clawson	The novel The Sentimentalists by Dale Collins
	Skyscraper		A story by Dudley Murphy
	The Valiant	Tom Barry	The play by Holworthy Hall & Robert Middlemass
	A Woman of Affairs	Bess Meredyth	The novel The Green Hat by Michael Arlen
	Wonder of Women		The novel The Wife of Steffen Tromholt by Hermann Sudermann

1930s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
1929/30 (3rd) [note 3]	The Big House	Frances Marion	– (original)
	All Quiet on the Western Front	Screenplay: George Abbott; Adaptation: Maxwell Anderson & Del Andrews; Dialogue: Anderson	The novel by Erich Maria Remarque
	Disraeli	Julien Josephson	The play by Louis N. Parker
	The Divorcee	John Meehan	The novel Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott
	Street of Chance	Howard Estabrook	A story by Oliver H.P. Garrett
1930/31 (4th) [note 1]	Cimarron	Howard Estabrook	The novel by Edna Ferber
	The Criminal Code	Seton I. Miller & Fred Niblo Jr.	The play by Martin Flavin
	Holiday	Horace Jackson	The play by Philip Barry
	Little Caesar	Screenplay: Francis Edward Faragoh; Continuity: Robert N. Lee	The novel by W. R. Burnett
	Skippy	Joseph L. Mankiewicz & Sam Mintz	The comic strip by Percy Crosby
1931/32 (5th) [note 1]	Bad Girl	Edwin J. Burke	The novel by Viña Delmar and play by Delmar and Brian Marlowe
	Arrowsmith	Sidney Howard	The novel by Sinclair Lewis
	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Percy Heath & Samuel Hoffenstein	The novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
1932/33 (6th) [note 1][note 4]	Little Women	Victor Heerman & Sarah Y. Mason	The novel by Louisa May Alcott
	Lady for a Day	Robert Riskin	The short story "Madame La Gimp" by Damon Runyon
	State Fair	Paul Green & Sonya Levien	The novel by Phil Stong
1934 (7th) [note 1][note 5]	It Happened One Night	Robert Riskin	The short story "Night Bus" by Samuel Hopkins Adams
	The Thin Man	Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett	The novel by Dashiell Hammett
	Viva Villa!	Ben Hecht	The book Viva Villa! A Recovery of the Real Pancho Villa, Peon, Bandit, Soldier, Patriot by Edgecumb Pinchon & O. B. Stade
1935 (8th)[note 6] [note 7][note 8]	The Informer	Dudley Nichols[note 9][9]	The novel by Liam O'Flaherty
	The Lives of a Bengal Lancer	Screenplay: Achmed Abdullah, John L. Balderston & Waldemar Young; Adaptation: Grover Jones & William Slavens McNutt	The memoir by Francis Yeats-Brown
	Mutiny on the Bounty	Jules Furthman, Talbot Jennings & Carey Wilson	The novel by James Norman Hall & Charles Nordhoff
1936 (9th)	The Story of Louis Pasteur	Pierre Collings & Sheridan Gibney	(original)
	After the Thin Man	Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett	The novel The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
	Dodsworth	Sidney Howard	The play by Howard & novel by Sinclair Lewis
	Mr. Deeds Goes to Town	Robert Riskin	The short story "Opera Hat" by Bud Kelland
	My Man Godfrey	Eric S. Hatch & Morrie Ryskind	The novel 1101 Park Avenue by Hatch
1937 (10th)	The Life of Emile Zola	Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg & Norman Reilly Raine	The book Zola and His Time by Matthew Josephson
	The Awful Truth	Viña Delmar	The play by Arthur Richman
	Captains Courageous	Marc Connelly, Dale Van Every & John Lee Mahin	The novel Captain Courageous: A Story of the Grand Banks by Rudyard Kipling
	Stage Door	Morrie Ryskind & Anthony Veiller	The play by Edna Ferber & George S. Kaufman
	A Star Is Born	Alan Campbell, Robert Carson & Dorothy Parker	A story by William A. Wellman & Carson
1938 (11th)	Pygmalion	Screenplay & Dialogue: George Bernard Shaw; Adaptation: Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Arthur Lewis & W. P. Lipscomb	The play by Shaw
	Boys Town	John Meehan & Dore Schary	A story by Schary & Eleanore Griffin
	The Citadel	Dalrymple, Betty Hill & Spig Wead	The novel by A. J. Cronin
	Four Daughters	Lenore Coffee & Julius J. Epstein	The short story "Sister Act" by Fannie Hurst
	You Can't Take It with You	Robert Riskin	The play by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart
1939 (12th)	Gone with the Wind	Sidney Howard (p.r.)	The novel by Margaret Mitchell
	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	Holt Marvell, R. C. Sherriff & Claudine West	The novella by James Hilton
	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Sidney Buchman	A story by Lewis R. Foster
	Ninotchka	Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch & Billy Wilder	A story by Melchior Lengyel
	Wuthering Heights	Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur	The novel by Emily Brontë

1940s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
1940 (13th)	The Philadelphia Story	Donald Ogden Stewart	The play by Philip Barry
	The Grapes of Wrath	Nunnally Johnson	The novel by John Steinbeck
	Kitty Foyle	Dalton Trumbo	The novel by Christopher Morley
	The Long Voyage Home	Dudley Nichols	The plays The Moon of the Caribees, In the Zone, Bound East for Cardiff & The Long Voyage Home by Eugene O'Neill
	Rebecca	Joan Harrison & Robert E. Sherwood	The novel by Daphne du Maurier
1941 (14th)	Here Comes Mr. Jordan	Sidney Buchman & Seton I. Miller	The play Heaven Can Wait by Harry Segall
	Hold Back the Dawn	Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder	The novel by Ketti Frings
	How Green Was My Valley	Philip Dunne	The novel by Richard Llewellyn
	The Little Foxes	Lillian Hellman	The play by Hellman
	The Maltese Falcon	John Huston	The novel by Dashiell Hammett
1942 (15th)	Mrs. Miniver	George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West & Arthur Wimperis	The character Mrs. Miniver from the articles by Jan Struther
	49th Parallel	Rodney Ackland & Emeric Pressburger	A story by Pressburger
	The Pride of the Yankees	Herman J. Mankiewicz & Jo Swerling	A story by Paul Gallico
	Random Harvest	Froeschel, West & Wimperis	The novel by Hilton
	The Talk of the Town	Sidney Buchman & Irwin Shaw	A story by Sidney Harmon
1943 (16th)	Casablanca	Philip G. Epstein, Julius J. Epstein & Howard Koch	The play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Joan Alison & Murray Burnett
	Holy Matrimony	Nunnally Johnson	The novel Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett
	The More the Merrier	Richard Flournoy, Lewis R. Foster, Frank Ross & Robert W. Russell	A story by Ross & Russell
	The Song of Bernadette	George Seaton	The novel by Franz Werfel
	Watch on the Rhine	Dashiell Hammett	The play by Lillian Hellman
1944 (17th)	Going My Way	Frank Butler & Frank Cavett	A story by Leo McCarey
	Double Indemnity	Raymond Chandler & Billy Wilder	The novel Double Indemnity in Three of a Kind by James M. Cain
	Gaslight	John L. Balderston, Walter Reisch & John Van Druten	The play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton
	Laura	Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein & Elizabeth Reinhardt	The novel by Vera Caspary
	Meet Me in St. Louis	Irving Brecher & Fred F. Finklehoffe	The novel by Sally Benson
1945 (18th) [10]	The Lost Weekend	Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder	The novel by Charles R. Jackson
	G. I. Joe	Leopold Atlas, Guy Endore & Philip Stevenson	The memoirs Brave Men & Here Is Your War by Ernie Pyle
	Mildred Pierce	Ranald MacDougall	The novel by James M. Cain
	Pride of the Marines	Albert Maltz	The book Al Schmid, Marine by Roger Butterfield
	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn	Frank Davis & Tess Slesinger (p.n.)	The novel by Betty Smith
1946 (19th)	The Best Years of Our Lives	Robert E. Sherwood	The novella Glory for Me by MacKinlay Kantor
	Anna and the King of Siam	Sally Benson & Talbot Jennings	The novel by Margaret Landon
	Brief Encounter	Anthony Havelock-Allan, David Lean & Ronald Neame	The play Still Life by Noël Coward
	The Killers	Anthony Veiller	The short story by Ernest Hemingway
	Rome, Open City	Sergio Amidei & Federico Fellini	A story by Amidei & Alberto Consiglio
1947 (20th)	Miracle on 34th Street	George Seaton	A story by Valentine Davies
	Boomerang	Richard Murphy	The article "The Perfect Case" by Anthony Abbot
	Crossfire	John Paxton	The novel The Brick Foxhole by Richard Brooks
	Gentleman's Agreement	Moss Hart	The novel by Laura Z. Hobson
	Great Expectations	David Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, & Ronald Neame	The novel by Charles Dickens
1948 (21st)	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre	John Huston	The novel by B. Traven
	A Foreign Affair	Charles Brackett, Richard L. Breen & Billy Wilder	A story by David Shaw
	Johnny Belinda	Allen Vincent & Irma von Cube	The play by Elmer Blaney Harris
	The Search	Richard Schweizer & David Wechsler [de]	– (original screenplay)
	The Snake Pit	Millen Brand & Frank Partos	The novel by Mary Jane Ward
1949 (22nd)	A Letter to Three Wives	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	The novel by John Klempner
	All the King's Men	Robert Rossen	The novel by Robert Penn Warren
	The Bicycle Thief	Cesare Zavattini	The novel by Luigi Bartolini
	Champion	Carl Foreman	The short story by Ring Lardner
	The Fallen Idol	Graham Greene	The short story "The Basement Room" by Greene

1950s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
1950 (23rd)	All About Eve	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	The short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr
	The Asphalt Jungle	John Huston & Ben Maddow	The novel by W. R. Burnett
	Born Yesterday	Albert Mannheimer	The play by Garson Kanin
	Broken Arrow	Albert Maltz[note 10]	The novel Blood Brother by Elliott Arnold
	Father of the Bride	Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett	The novel by E. Streeter
1951 (24th)	A Place in the Sun	Harry Brown & Michael Wilson	The novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser & play by Patrick Kearney
	The African Queen	James Agee & John Huston	The novel by C. S. Forester
	Detective Story	Robert Wyler & Philip Yordan	The play by Sidney Kingsley
	La Ronde	Jacques Natanson & Max Ophüls	The play by Arthur Schnitzler
	A Streetcar Named Desire	Tennessee Williams	The play by Williams
1952 (25th)	The Bad and the Beautiful	Charles Schnee	A story by George Bradshaw
	5 Fingers	Michael Wilson	The novel Operation Cicero by Ludwig Carl Moyzisch
	High Noon	Carl Foreman	The short story "The Tin Star" by John W. Cunningham
	The Man in the White Suit	John Dighton, Alexander Mackendrick & Roger MacDougall	A story by MacDougall
	The Quiet Man	Frank Nugent	The short story by Maurice Walsh
1953 (26th)	From Here to Eternity	Daniel Taradash	The novel by James Jones
	The Cruel Sea	Eric Ambler	The novel by Nicholas Monsarrat
	Lili	Helen Deutsch	The short story "The Man Who Hated People" by Paul Gallico
	Roman Holiday	John Dighton & Ian McLellan Hunter	A story by Dalton Trumbo (front: Ian McLellan Hunter)
	Shane	A. B. Guthrie Jr.	The novel by Jack Schaefer
1954 (27th)	The Country Girl	George Seaton	The play by Clifford Odets
	The Caine Mutiny	Stanley Roberts	The novel by Herman Wouk
	Rear Window	John Michael Hayes	The short story "It Had to Be Murder" by Cornell Woolrich
	Sabrina	Ernest Lehman, Samuel A. Taylor & Billy Wilder	The play Sabrina Fair by Taylor
	Seven Brides for Seven Brothers	Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett & Dorothy Kingsley	The short story "The Sobbin' Women" by Stephen Vincent Benét
1955 (28th)	Marty	Paddy Chayefsky	The television play on The Philco Television Playhouse by Chayefsky
	Bad Day at Black Rock	Millard Kaufman	The short story "Bad Time at Honda" by Howard Breslin
	Blackboard Jungle	Richard Brooks	The novel by Evan Hunter
	East of Eden	Paul Osborn	The novel by John Steinbeck
	Love Me or Leave Me	Daniel Fuchs & Isobel Lennart	A story by Fuchs
1956 (29th)	Around the World in 80 Days	John Farrow, S. J. Perelman & James Poe	The novel by Jules Verne
	Baby Doll	Tennessee Williams	The plays 27 Wagons Full of Cotton & The Long Stay Cut Short, or The Unsatisfactory Supper by Williams
	Friendly Persuasion	Michael Wilson[note 11]	The novel by Jessamyn West
	Giant	Fred Guiol & Ivan Moffat	The novel by Edna Ferber
	Lust for Life	Norman Corwin	The novel by Irving Stone
1957 (30th)	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Pierre Boulle, Carl Foreman, & Michael Wilson[note 12]	The novel The Bridge over the River Kwai by Boulle
	12 Angry Men	Reginald Rose	The teleplay on Westinghouse Studio One and play by Rose
	Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison	John Huston & John Lee Mahin	The novel by Charles Shaw
	Peyton Place	John Michael Hayes	The novel by Grace Metalious
	Sayonara	Paul Osborn	The novel by James A. Michener
1958 (31st)	Gigi	Alan Jay Lerner	The novella by Colette
	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	Richard Brooks & James Poe	The play & short story "Three Players of a Summer Game" by Tennessee Williams
	The Horse's Mouth	Alec Guinness	The novel by Joyce Cary
	I Want to Live!	Nelson Gidding & Don Mankiewicz	Articles by Edward S. Montgomery & letters by Barbara Graham
	Separate Tables	John Gay & Terence Rattigan	The plays by Rattigan
1959 (32nd)	Room at the Top	Neil Paterson	The novel by John Braine
	Anatomy of a Murder	Wendell Mayes	The novel by John D. Voelker
	Ben-Hur	Karl Tunberg	The novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace
	The Nun's Story	Robert Anderson	The novel by Kathryn Hulme
	Some Like It Hot	I. A. L. Diamond & Billy Wilder	The 1935 French film Fanfare of Love written by Max Bronnet, Michael Logan, Pierre Prévert, René Pujol and Robert Thoeren & the 1951 German remake Fanfares of Love written by Logan, Thoeren and Heinz Pauck

1960s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
1960 (33rd)	Elmer Gantry	Richard Brooks	The novel by Sinclair Lewis
	Inherit the Wind	Harold Jacob Smith & Nedrick Young[note 13]	The play by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee
	Sons and Lovers	T. E. B. Clarke & Gavin Lambert	The novel by D. H. Lawrence
	The Sundowners	Isobel Lennart	The novel by Jon Cleary
	Tunes of Glory	James Kennaway	The novel by Kennaway
1961 (34th)	Judgment at Nuremberg	Abby Mann	The television play on Playhouse 90 by Mann
	Breakfast at Tiffany's	George Axelrod	The novella by Truman Capote
	The Guns of Navarone	Carl Foreman	The novel by Alistair MacLean
	The Hustler	Sidney Carroll & Robert Rossen	The novel by Walter Tevis
	West Side Story	Ernest Lehman	The musical by Arthur Laurents
1962 (35th)	To Kill a Mockingbird	Horton Foote	The novel by Harper Lee
	David and Lisa	Eleanor Perry	The novella Lisa and David by Dr. Theodore Isaac Rubin
	Lawrence of Arabia	Robert Bolt & Michael Wilson[note 14]	The memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence
	Lolita	Vladimir Nabokov	The novel by Nabokov
	The Miracle Worker	William Gibson	The play & television play on Playhouse 90 by Gibson
1963 (36th)	Tom Jones	John Osborne	The novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
	Captain Newman, M.D.	Richard L. Breen, Henry & Phoebe Ephron	The novel by Leo Rosten
	Hud	Harriet Frank Jr. & Irving Ravetch	The novel Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry
	Lilies of the Field	James Poe	The novel by William Edmund Barrett
	Sundays and Cybele	Scenario: Serge Bourguignon & Antoine Tudal; Dialogue: Bourguignon	The novel Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray by Bernard Eschassériaux
1964 (37th)	Becket	Edward Anhalt	The play by Jean Anouilh
	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb	Stanley Kubrick, Peter George & Terry Southern	The novel Red Alert by George
	Mary Poppins	Don DaGradi & Bill Walsh	The novel series by P. L. Travers
	My Fair Lady	Alan Jay Lerner	The musical by Lerner
	Zorba the Greek	Michael Cacoyannis	The novel by Nikos Kazantzakis
1965 (38th)	Doctor Zhivago	Robert Bolt	The novel by Boris Pasternak
	Cat Ballou	Walter Newman & Frank Pierson	The novel The Ballad of Cat Ballou by Roy Chanslor
	The Collector	John Kohn & Stanley Mann	The novel by John Fowles
	Ship of Fools	Abby Mann	The novel by Katherine Anne Porter
	A Thousand Clowns	Herb Gardner	The play by Gardner
1966 (39th)	A Man for All Seasons	Robert Bolt	The play by Bolt
	Alfie	Bill Naughton	The play by Naughton
	The Professionals	Richard Brooks	The novel A Mule for the Marquesa by Frank O'Rourke
	The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming	William Rose	The novel The Off-Islanders by Nathaniel Benchley
	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Ernest Lehman	The play by Edward Albee
1967 (40th)	In the Heat of the Night	Stirling Silliphant	The novel by John Ball
	Cool Hand Luke	Donn Pearce & Frank Pierson	The novel by Pearce
	The Graduate	Buck Henry & Calder Willingham	The novella by Charles Webb
	In Cold Blood	Richard Brooks	The book by Truman Capote
	Ulysses	Fred Haines & Joseph Strick	The novel by James Joyce
1968 (41st)	The Lion in Winter	James Goldman	The play by Goldman
	The Odd Couple	Neil Simon	The play by Simon
	Oliver!	Vernon Harris	The musical by Lionel Bart
	Rachel, Rachel	Stewart Stern	The novel A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence
	Rosemary's Baby	Roman Polanski	The novel by Ira Levin
1969 (42nd)	Midnight Cowboy	Waldo Salt	The novel by James Leo Herlihy
	Anne of the Thousand Days	Screenplay: Bridget Boland & John Hale; Adaptation: Richard Sokolove	The play by Maxwell Anderson
	Goodbye, Columbus	Arnold Schulman	The novella by Philip Roth
	They Shoot Horses, Don't They?	James Poe & Robert E. Thompson	The novel by Horace McCoy
	Z	Costa-Gavras & Jorge Semprún	The novel by Vassilis Vassilikos

1970s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
1970 (43rd)	M*A*S*H	Ring Lardner Jr.	The novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker
	Airport	George Seaton	The novel by Arthur Hailey
	I Never Sang for My Father	Robert Anderson	The play by Anderson
	Lovers and Other Strangers	Joseph Bologna, David Zelag Goodman & Renée Taylor	The play by Bologna & Taylor
	Women in Love	Larry Kramer	The novel by D. H. Lawrence
1971 (44th)	The French Connection	Ernest Tidyman	The book The French Connection: The World's Most Crucial Narcotics Investigation by Robin Moore
	A Clockwork Orange	Stanley Kubrick	The novel by Anthony Burgess
	The Conformist	Bernardo Bertolucci	The novel by Alberto Moravia
	The Garden of the Finzi-Continis	Vittorio Bonicelli & Ugo Pirro	The novel by Giorgio Bassani
	The Last Picture Show	Peter Bogdanovich & Larry McMurtry	The novel by McMurtry
1972 (45th)	The Godfather	Francis Ford Coppola & Mario Puzo	The novel by Puzo
	Cabaret	Jay Presson Allen	The musical by Joe Masteroff
	The Emigrants	Bengt Forslund & Jan Troell	The novels The Emigrants & Unto a Good Land by Vilhelm Moberg
	Pete 'n' Tillie	Julius J. Epstein	The novella Witch's Milk by Peter De Vries
	Sounder	Lonne Elder III	The novel by William H. Armstrong
1973 (46th)	The Exorcist	William Peter Blatty	The novel by Blatty
	The Last Detail	Robert Towne	The novel by Darryl Ponicsan
	The Paper Chase	James Bridges	The novel by John Jay Osborn Jr.
	Paper Moon	Alvin Sargent	The novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown
	Serpico	Waldo Salt & Norman Wexler	The book Serpico: The Cop Who Defied the System by Peter Maas
1974 (47th)	The Godfather Part II	Francis Ford Coppola & Mario Puzo	The novel The Godfather by Puzo
	The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz	Screenplay: Mordecai Richler; Adaptation: Lionel Chetwynd	The novel by Richler
	Lenny	Julian Barry	The play by Barry
	Murder on the Orient Express	Paul Dehn	The novel by Agatha Christie
	Young Frankenstein	Mel Brooks & Gene Wilder	The novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
1975 (48th)	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	Bo Goldman & Lawrence Hauben	The novel by Ken Kesey
	Barry Lyndon	Stanley Kubrick	The novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray
	The Man Who Would Be King	Gladys Hill & John Huston	The short story by Rudyard Kipling
	Profumo di donna	Ruggero Maccari & Dino Risi	The novel Il buio e il mare by Giovanni Arpino
	The Sunshine Boys	Neil Simon	The play by Simon
1976 (49th)	All the President's Men	William Goldman	The memoir by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward
	Bound for Glory	Robert Getchell	The memoir by Woody Guthrie
	Fellini's Casanova	Federico Fellini & Bernardino Zapponi	The memoir History of My Life by Giacomo Casanova
	The Seven-Per-Cent Solution	Nicholas Meyer	The novel The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. by Meyer
	Voyage of the Damned	David Butler & Steve Shagan	The book by Gordon Thomas & Max Morgan-Witts
1977 (50th)	Julia	Alvin Sargent	The memoir Pentimento: A Book of Portraits by Lillian Hellman
	Equus	Peter Shaffer	The play by Shaffer
	I Never Promised You a Rose Garden	Lewis John Carlino & Gavin Lambert	The novel by Joanne Greenberg
	Oh, God!	Larry Gelbart	The novel by Avery Corman
	That Obscure Object of Desire	Scenario: Luis Buñuel; Collaboration: Jean-Claude Carrière	The novel The Woman and the Puppet by Pierre Louÿs
1978 (51st)	Midnight Express	Oliver Stone	The memoir by Billy Hayes & William Hoffer
	Bloodbrothers	Walter Newman	The novel by Richard Price
	California Suite	Neil Simon	The play by Simon
	Heaven Can Wait	Warren Beatty & Elaine May	The play by Harry Segall
	Same Time, Next Year	Bernard Slade	The play by Slade
1979 (52nd)	Kramer vs. Kramer	Robert Benton	The novel by Avery Corman
	Apocalypse Now	Francis Ford Coppola & John Milius	The novel Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
	La Cage aux Folles	Marcello Danon, Édouard Molinaro, Jean Poiret & Francis Veber	The play by Poiret
	A Little Romance	Allan Burns	The novel E=mc2 Mon Amour by Patrick Cauvin
	Norma Rae	Harriet Frank Jr. & Irving Ravetch	The book Crystal Lee, a Woman of Inheritance by Hank Leiferman

1980s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
1980 (53rd)	Ordinary People	Alvin Sargent	The novel by Judith Guest
	Breaker Morant	Bruce Beresford, Jonathan Hardy & David Stevens	The play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts by Kenneth G. Ross
	Coal Miner's Daughter	Thomas Rickman	The memoir Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter by Loretta Lynn & George Vecsey
	The Elephant Man	Eric Bergren, Christopher De Vore & David Lynch	The memoir The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Frederick Treves & book The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity by Ashley Montagu
	The Stunt Man	Screenplay: Lawrence B. Marcus; Adaptation: Richard Rush	The novel by Paul Brodeur
1981 (54th)	On Golden Pond	Ernest Thompson	The play by Thompson
	The French Lieutenant's Woman	Harold Pinter	The novel by John Fowles
	Pennies from Heaven	Dennis Potter	The television series by Potter
	Prince of the City	Jay Presson Allen & Sidney Lumet	The book Prince of the City: The True Story of a Cop Who Knew Too Much by Robert Daley
	Ragtime	Michael Weller	The novel by E. L. Doctorow
1982 (55th)	Missing	Costa-Gavras & Donald E. Stewart	The book The Execution of Charles Horman: An American Sacrifice by Thomas Hauser
	Das Boot	Wolfgang Petersen	The novel by Lothar-Günther Buchheim
	Sophie's Choice	Alan J. Pakula	The novel by William Styron
	The Verdict	David Mamet	The novel by Barry Reed
	Victor/Victoria	Blake Edwards	The film Victor and Victoria by Reinhold Schünzel
1983 (56th)	Terms of Endearment	James L. Brooks	The novel by Larry McMurtry
	Betrayal	Harold Pinter	The play by Pinter
	The Dresser	Ronald Harwood	The play by Harwood
	Educating Rita	Willy Russell	The play by Russell
	Reuben, Reuben	Julius J. Epstein	The play Spofford by Herman Shumlin & novel by Peter De Vries
1984 (57th)	Amadeus	Peter Shaffer	The play by Shaffer
	Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes	Michael Austin & Robert Towne[note 15][11]	The novel Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
	The Killing Fields	Bruce Robinson	The article "The Death and Life of Dith Pran: A Story of Cambodia" by Sydney Schanberg
	A Passage to India	David Lean	The novel by E. M. Forster
	A Soldier's Story	Charles Fuller	The play A Soldier's Play by Fuller
1985 (58th)	Out of Africa	Kurt Luedtke	The memoir by Karen Blixen & books Silence Will Speak: A Study of the Life of Denys Finch Hatton and His Relationship With Karen Blixen by Errol Trzebinski & Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller by Judith Thurman
	The Color Purple	Menno Meyjes	The novel by Alice Walker
	Kiss of the Spider Woman	Leonard Schrader	The novel by Manuel Puig
	Prizzi's Honor	Richard Condon & Janet Roach	The novel by Condon
	The Trip to Bountiful	Horton Foote	The play & television film by Foote
1986 (59th)	A Room with a View	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala	The novel by E. M. Forster
	Children of a Lesser God	Hesper Anderson & Mark Medoff	The play by Medoff
	The Color of Money	Richard Price	The novel by Walter Tevis
	Crimes of the Heart	Beth Henley	The play by Henley
	Stand by Me	Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon	The novella The Body by Stephen King
1987 (60th)	The Last Emperor	Bernardo Bertolucci & Mark Peploe	The memoir From Emperor to Citizen: The Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi by Puyi
	The Dead	Tony Huston	The short story by James Joyce
	Fatal Attraction	James Dearden	The television film Diversion by Dearden
	Full Metal Jacket	Gustav Hasford, Michael Herr & Stanley Kubrick	The novel The Short-Timers by Hasford
	My Life as a Dog	Per Berglund, Brasse Brännström, Lasse Hallström & Reidar Jönsson	The novel Mitt liv som hund by Jönsson
1988 (61st)	Dangerous Liaisons	Christopher Hampton	The play Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Hampton & novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
	The Accidental Tourist	Frank Galati & Lawrence Kasdan	The novel by Anne Tyler
	Gorillas in the Mist	Screenplay: Anna Hamilton Phelan; Story: Tab Murphy & Phelan	The article by Harold Hayes
	Little Dorrit	Christine Edzard	The novel by Charles Dickens
	The Unbearable Lightness of Being	Jean-Claude Carrière & Philip Kaufman	The novel by Milan Kundera
1989 (62nd)	Driving Miss Daisy	Alfred Uhry	The play by Uhry
	Born on the Fourth of July	Ron Kovic & Oliver Stone	The memoir by Kovic
	Enemies, A Love Story	Paul Mazursky & Roger L. Simon	The novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer
	Field of Dreams	Phil Alden Robinson	The novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella
	My Left Foot	Shane Connaughton & Jim Sheridan	The memoir by Christy Brown

1990s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
1990 (63rd)	Dances with Wolves	Michael Blake	The novel by Blake
	Awakenings	Steven Zaillian	The memoir by Oliver Sacks
	Goodfellas	Nicholas Pileggi & Martin Scorsese	The book Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family by Pileggi
	The Grifters	Donald E. Westlake	The novel by Jim Thompson
	Reversal of Fortune	Nicholas Kazan	The memoir Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case by Alan Dershowitz
1991 (64th)	The Silence of the Lambs	Ted Tally	The novel by Thomas Harris
	Europa Europa	Agnieszka Holland	The memoir I Was Hitler Youth Salomon by Solomon Perel
	Fried Green Tomatoes	Fannie Flagg & Carol Sobieski (p.n.)	The novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Flagg
	JFK	Zachary Sklar & Oliver Stone	The memoir On the Trail of the Assassins by Jim Garrison & book Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy by Jim Marrs
	The Prince of Tides	Pat Conroy & Becky Johnston	The novel by Conroy
1992 (65th)	Howards End	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala	The novel by E. M. Forster
	Enchanted April	Peter Barnes	The novel by Elizabeth von Arnim
	The Player	Michael Tolkin	The novel by Tolkin
	A River Runs Through It	Richard Friedenberg	The novella by Norman Maclean
	Scent of a Woman	Bo Goldman	The novel Il buio e il miele by Giovanni Arpino & film by Ruggero Maccari & Dino Risi
1993 (66th)	Schindler's List	Steven Zaillian	The novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
	The Age of Innocence	Jay Cocks & Martin Scorsese	The novel by Edith Wharton
	In the Name of the Father	Terry George & Jim Sheridan	The memoir Proved Innocent: The Story of Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four by Gerry Conlon
	The Remains of the Day	Ruth Prawer Jhabvala	The novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
	Shadowlands	William Nicholson	The play & television film by Nicholson
1994 (67th)	Forrest Gump	Eric Roth	The novel by Winston Groom
	The Madness of King George	Alan Bennett	The play The Madness of George III by Bennett
	Nobody's Fool	Robert Benton	The novel by Richard Russo
	Quiz Show	Paul Attanasio	The book Remembering America: A Voice from the Sixties by Richard N. Goodwin
	The Shawshank Redemption	Frank Darabont	The novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King
1995 (68th)	Sense and Sensibility	Emma Thompson	The novel by Jane Austen
	Apollo 13	William Broyles Jr. & Al Reinert	The memoir Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Jeffrey Kluger & Jim Lovell
	Babe	George Miller & Chris Noonan	The novel The Sheep-Pig by Dick King-Smith
	Leaving Las Vegas	Mike Figgis	The novel by John O'Brien
	Il Postino: The Postman	Screenplay: Anna Pavignano, Michael Radford, Furio & Giacomo Scarpelli & Massimo Troisi (p.n.); Story: F. & G. Scarpelli	The novel Ardiente Paciencia by Antonio Skármeta
1996 (69th)	Sling Blade	Billy Bob Thornton	The short film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade written by Thornton
	The Crucible	Arthur Miller	The play by Miller
	The English Patient	Anthony Minghella	The novel by Michael Ondaatje
	Hamlet	Kenneth Branagh	The play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare
	Trainspotting	John Hodge	The novel by Irvine Welsh
1997 (70th)	L.A. Confidential	Curtis Hanson & Brian Helgeland	The novel by James Ellroy
	Donnie Brasco	Paul Attanasio	The memoir Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by Joseph D. Pistone & Richard Woodley
	The Sweet Hereafter	Atom Egoyan	The novel by Russell Banks
	Wag the Dog	Hilary Henkin & David Mamet	The novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart
	The Wings of the Dove	Hossein Amini	The novel by Henry James
1998 (71st)	Gods and Monsters	Bill Condon	The novel Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram
	Out of Sight	Scott Frank	The novel by Elmore Leonard
	Primary Colors	Elaine May	The novel Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics by Joe Klein
	A Simple Plan	Scott Smith	The novel by Smith
	The Thin Red Line	Terrence Malick	The novel by James Jones
1999 (72nd)	The Cider House Rules	John Irving	The novel by Irving
	Election	Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor	The novel by Tom Perrotta
	The Green Mile	Frank Darabont	The novel by Stephen King
	The Insider	Michael Mann & Eric Roth	The article "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Marie Brenner
	The Talented Mr. Ripley	Anthony Minghella	The novel by Patricia Highsmith

2000s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
2000 (73rd)	Traffic	Stephen Gaghan	The television series Traffik by Simon Moore
	Chocolat	Robert Nelson Jacobs	The novel by Joanne Harris
	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus & Kuo Jung Tsai	The novel by Wang Dulu
	O Brother, Where Art Thou?	Joel and Ethan Coen	The epic poem the Odyssey by Homer
	Wonder Boys	Steve Kloves	The novel by Michael Chabon
2001 (74th)	A Beautiful Mind	Akiva Goldsman	The book by Sylvia Nasar
	Ghost World	Daniel Clowes & Terry Zwigoff	The graphic novel by Clowes
	In the Bedroom	Rob Festinger & Todd Field	The short story "Killings" by Andre Dubus
	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh	The novel The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien
	Shrek	Ted Elliott, Roger S. H. Schulman, Joe Stillman & Terry Rossio	The picture book by William Steig
2002 (75th)	The Pianist	Ronald Harwood	The memoir by Władysław Szpilman
	About a Boy	Peter Hedges, Chris & Paul Weitz	The novel by Nick Hornby
	Adaptation	Charlie & Donald Kaufman[note 16][11]	The book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean
	Chicago	Bill Condon	The musical by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse
	The Hours	David Hare	The novel by Michael Cunningham
2003 (76th)	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh	The novel The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien
	American Splendor	Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini	The comic books by Harvey Pekar & graphic novel Our Cancer Year by Pekar & Joyce Brabner
	City of God	Bráulio Mantovani	The novel by Paulo Lins
	Mystic River	Brian Helgeland	The novel by Dennis Lehane
	Seabiscuit	Gary Ross	The book Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
2004 (77th)	Sideways	Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor	The novel by Rex Pickett
	Before Sunset	Screenplay: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater; Story: Kim Krizan & Linklater	Characters from the film Before Sunrise by Krizan & Linklater
	Finding Neverland	David Magee	The play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee
	Million Dollar Baby	Paul Haggis	The short story collection Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole
	The Motorcycle Diaries	José Rivera	The memoirs Traveling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary by Alberto Granado & The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara
2005 (78th)	Brokeback Mountain	Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana	The short story by Annie Proulx
	Capote	Dan Futterman	The book by Gerald Clarke
	The Constant Gardener	Jeffrey Caine	The novel by John le Carré
	A History of Violence	Josh Olson	The graphic novel by Vince Locke & John Wagner
	Munich	Tony Kushner & Eric Roth	The book Vengeance by George Jonas
2006 (79th)	The Departed	William Monahan	The film Infernal Affairs written by Felix Chong & Alan Mak
	Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan	Screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen, Peter Baynham, Anthony Hines & Dan Mazer; Story: Baron Cohen, Baynham, Hines & Todd Phillips	The character Borat Sagdiyev from the television series Da Ali G Show by Baron Cohen
	Children of Men	David Arata, Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby & Timothy J. Sexton	The novel by P. D. James
	Little Children	Todd Field & Tom Perrotta	The novel by Perrotta
	Notes on a Scandal	Patrick Marber	The novel by Zoë Heller
2007 (80th)	No Country for Old Men	Coen Brothers	The novel by Cormac McCarthy
	Atonement	Christopher Hampton	The novel by Ian McEwan
	Away from Her	Sarah Polley	The short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro
	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	Ronald Harwood	The memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby
	There Will Be Blood	Paul Thomas Anderson	The novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair
2008 (81st)	Slumdog Millionaire	Simon Beaufoy	The novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup
	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Screenplay: Eric Roth; Story: Roth & Robin Swicord	The short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
	Doubt	John Patrick Shanley	The play Doubt: A Parable by Shanley
	Frost/Nixon	Peter Morgan	The play by Morgan
	The Reader	David Hare	The novel by Bernhard Schlink
2009 (82nd)	Precious	Geoffrey S. Fletcher	The novel Push by Sapphire
	District 9	Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell	The short film Alive in Joburg by Blomkamp
	An Education	Nick Hornby	The memoir by Lynn Barber
	In the Loop	Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche	The character Malcolm Tucker from the television series The Thick of It by Iannucci
	Up in the Air	Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner	The novel by Walter Kirn

2010s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
2010 (83rd)	The Social Network	Aaron Sorkin	The book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich
	127 Hours	Simon Beaufoy & Danny Boyle	The memoir Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
	Toy Story 3	Screenplay: Michael Arndt; Story: John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich	Characters from the film Toy Story by Pete Docter, Lasseter, Joe Ranft, & Stanton
	True Grit	Coen Brothers	The novel by Charles Portis
	Winter's Bone	Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini	The novel by Daniel Woodrell
2011 (84th)	The Descendants	Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne & Jim Rash	The novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings
	Hugo	John Logan	The novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
	The Ides of March	George Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon	The play Farragut North by Willimon
	Moneyball	Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian; Story: Stan Chervin	The book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Bridget O'Connor (p.n.) & Peter Straughan	The novel by John le Carré
2012 (85th)	Argo	Chris Terrio	The memoir The Master of Disguise by Tony Mendez & article "The Great Escape: How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran" by Joshuah Bearman
	Beasts of the Southern Wild	Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin	The play Juicy and Delicious by Alibar
	Life of Pi	David Magee	The novel by Yann Martel
	Lincoln	Tony Kushner	The book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
	Silver Linings Playbook	David O. Russell	The novel by Matthew Quick
2013 (86th)	12 Years a Slave	John Ridley	The memoir by Solomon Northup
	Before Midnight	Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater	Characters from the film Before Sunrise by Kim Krizan & Linklater
	Captain Phillips	Billy Ray	The memoir A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips & Stephan Talty
	Philomena	Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope	The book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith
	The Wolf of Wall Street	Terence Winter	The memoir by Jordan Belfort
2014 (87th)	The Imitation Game	Graham Moore	The book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
	American Sniper	Jason Hall	The memoir American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Jim DeFelice, Chris Kyle & Scott McEwan
	Inherent Vice	Paul Thomas Anderson	The novel by Thomas Pynchon
	The Theory of Everything	Anthony McCarten	The memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Hawking
	Whiplash	Damien Chazelle	The short film by Chazelle
2015 (88th)	The Big Short	Charles Randolph & Adam McKay	The book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
	Brooklyn	Nick Hornby	The novel by Colm Tóibín
	Carol	Phyllis Nagy	The novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
	The Martian	Drew Goddard	The novel by Andy Weir
	Room	Emma Donoghue	The novel by Donoghue
2016 (89th) [12]	Moonlight	Screenplay: Barry Jenkins; Story: Tarell Alvin McCraney	The unpublished play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by McCraney
	Arrival	Eric Heisserer	The novella "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang
	Fences	August Wilson (p.n.)	The play by Wilson
	Hidden Figures	Theodore Melfi & Allison Schroeder	The book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
	Lion	Luke Davies	The memoir A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley & Larry Buttrose
2017 (90th) [13]	Call Me by Your Name	James Ivory	The novel by André Aciman
	The Disaster Artist	Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber	The memoir The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero & Tom Bissell
	Logan	Screenplay: Scott Frank, Michael Green & James Mangold; Story: Mangold	The character Wolverine from the comic books by John Romita Sr. & Len Wein
	Molly's Game	Aaron Sorkin	The memoir by Molly Bloom
	Mudbound	Dee Rees & Virgil Williams	The novel by Hillary Jordan
2018 (91st) [14]	BlacKkKlansman	Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel & Kevin Willmott	The memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth
	The Ballad of Buster Scruggs	Coen Brothers	The short stories "All Gold Canyon" by Jack London & "The Gal Who Got Rattled" by Stewart Edward White
	Can You Ever Forgive Me?	Nicole Holofcener & Jeff Whitty	The memoir by Lee Israel
	If Beale Street Could Talk	Barry Jenkins	The novel by James Baldwin
	A Star Is Born	Bradley Cooper, Will Fetters & Eric Roth	The 1954 film by Moss Hart, 1976 film by Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne & Frank Pierson & 1937 film by Robert Carson & William A. Wellman
2019 (92nd) [15]	Jojo Rabbit	Taika Waititi	The novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens
	The Irishman	Steven Zaillian	The memoir I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa by Charles Brandt
	Joker	Todd Phillips & Scott Silver	The character from the comic books by Bill Finger, Bob Kane & Jerry Robinson
	Little Women	Greta Gerwig	The novel by Louisa May Alcott
	The Two Popes	Anthony McCarten	The play The Pope by McCarten

2020s

Year	Film	Nominees	Source Material
2020/21 (93rd) [16]	The Father	Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller	The play by Zeller
	Borat Subsequent Moviefilm	Screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen, Peter Baynham, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja & Dan Swimer; Story: Baron Cohen, Hines, Nina Pedrad & Swimer	The character Borat Sagdiyev from the television series Da Ali G Show by Baron Cohen
	Nomadland	Chloé Zhao	The book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder
	One Night in Miami...	Kemp Powers	The play by Powers
	The White Tiger	Ramin Bahrani	The novel by Arvind Adiga
2021 (94th) [17]	CODA	Sian Heder	The film La Famille Bélier by Victoria Bedos, Thomas Bidegain, Stanislas Carré de Malberg & Éric Lartigau
	Drive My Car	Ryusuke Hamaguchi & Takamasa Oe	The short story by Haruki Murakami
	Dune	Eric Roth, Jon Spaihts & Denis Villeneuve	The novel by Frank Herbert
	The Lost Daughter	Maggie Gyllenhaal	The novel by Elena Ferrante
	The Power of the Dog	Jane Campion	The novel by Thomas Savage
2022 (95th) [18]	Women Talking	Sarah Polley	The novel by Miriam Toews
	All Quiet on the Western Front	Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell	The novel by Erich Maria Remarque
	Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery	Rian Johnson	The character Benoit Blanc from the film Knives Out by Johnson
	Living	Kazuo Ishiguro	The film Ikiru by Shinobu Hashimoto, Akira Kurosawa & Hideo Oguni
	Top Gun: Maverick	Screenplay: Ehren Kruger, Christopher McQuarrie & Eric Warren Singer; Story: Peter Craig & Justin Marks	Characters from the film Top Gun by Jim Cash & Jack Epps Jr.
2023 (96th) [19]	American Fiction	Cord Jefferson	The novel Erasure by Percival Everett
	Barbie	Noah Baumbach & Greta Gerwig	The characters created by Ruth Handler
	Oppenheimer	Christopher Nolan	The book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird & Martin J. Sherwin
	Poor Things	Tony McNamara	The novel Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer by Alisdair Gray
	The Zone of Interest	Jonathan Glazer	The novel by Martin Amis
2024 (97th) [20]	Conclave	Peter Straughan	The novel by Robert Harris
	A Complete Unknown	Jay Cocks & James Mangold	The book Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties by Elijah Wald
	Emilia Pérez	Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Nicolas Livecchi & Léa Mysius	The novel Écoute by Boris Razon & the opera libretto by Audiard
	Nickel Boys	Joslyn Barnes & RaMell Ross	The novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
	Sing Sing	Screenplay: Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar; Story: Bentley, Kwedar, Clarence Maclin & John "Divine G" Whitfield	The book The Sing Sing Follies by John H. Richardson & the play Breakin' the Mummy's Code by Brent Buell

Multiple wins and nominations

Multiple wins Wins Writer 2 Robert Bolt Francis Ford Coppola Christopher Hampton Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Joseph L. Mankiewicz Alexander Payne Mario Puzo Alvin Sargent George Seaton Michael Wilson

Three or more nominations Nominations Writer 7 Billy Wilder 6 John Huston Eric Roth 5 Richard Brooks 4 Michael Wilson Carl Foreman Albert Hackett Charles Brackett Frances Goodrich Julius J. Epstein Stanley Kubrick Joel Coen Ethan Coen Steven Zaillian 3 Joseph L. Mankiewicz Ernest Lehman Robert Bolt Neil Simon Francis Ford Coppola Alexander Payne Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Oliver Stone Aaron Sorkin Christopher Hampton

Age superlatives

Record	Writer	Film	Age	Ref.
Oldest winner	James Ivory	Call Me by Your Name	89 years, 270 days	[21]
Oldest nominee			89 years, 230 days	[22]
Youngest winner	Charlie Wachtel	BlacKkKlansman	*32 years	[23]
Youngest nominee	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	Skippy	22 years, 236 days

See also

• Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
• Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
• BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Screenplay
• List of Big Five Academy Award winners and nominees
• List of Academy Award–nominated films
• Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay

Notes

1. During these years, the award was bestowed as Best Writing, Adaptation.
2. The 2nd Academy Awards is unique in being the only occasion where there were no official nominees. Subsequent research by AMPAS has resulted in a list of unofficial or de facto nominees, based on records of which films were evaluated by the judges.
3. During this year, the award was bestowed as Best Writing and included both original and adapted screenplays.
4. The Academy also announced that Robert Riskin came in second and Paul Green and Sonya Levien third.
5. The Academy also announced that Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett came in second and Ben Hecht third.
6. From 1935 until 1955, the award was bestowed as Best Writing, Screenplay.
7. Captain Blood, written by Casey Robinson from the novel Captain Blood: His Odyssey by Rafael Sabatini, was not officially nominated for this award, but appears in Academy records because it placed third in voting as a write-in candidate in 1935.
8. The Academy also announced that Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman, and Carey Wilson came in second and Casey Robinson third. This means Waldemar Young, John L. Balderston, Achmed Abdullah, Grover Jones, and William Slavens McNutt came in fourth.
9. Dudley Nichols refused to accept the award, but was in possession of it by 1949 according to Academy records.
10. Michael Blankfort was originally nominated as the screenwriter of Broken Arrow. In 1991, research proved blacklisted Albert Maltz was the screenwriter and his credit was restored. Blankfort was removed from the nomination and it was given to Maltz.
11. Michael Wilson was originally credited as the screenwriter of Friendly Persuasion, but Allied Artists, acting in agreement with the Screen Writers Guild, removed his credit because he was blacklisted. Early in 1957, the Academy revised its bylaws so the film would be eligible for a writing nomination without naming Wilson as a nominee. Friendly Persuasion was initially announced a nominee without a writer's name attached. The Academy's Board of Governors voted to strike the nomination altogether and it was not included on the final ballot. The Board of Governors, however, reinstated the nomination with Wilson's name attached in 2002.
12. Pierre Boulle was credited as the screenwriter of The Bridge on the River Kwai and ultimately won the award. Blacklisted writers Michael Wilson and Carl Foreman, who actually wrote the screenplay, were awarded posthumous Oscars by the Academy's Board of Governors in 1984.
13. Due to blacklisting, Young wrote under the pseudonym Nathan E. Douglas.
14. In 1995, research proved blacklisted Michael Wilson was also a screenwriter of Lawrence of Arabia. He was added as a nominee by the Academy's Board of Governors.
15. Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes was initially adapted by screenwriter Robert Towne, but he removed his name from the credits because he was unhappy with co-writer Michael Austin's alterations and the finished film itself. He instead used the pseudonym P.H. Vazak, the name of his late Hungarian sheepdog.
16. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is a character in his own script for Adaptation, as is his fictional twin brother Donald. The nonexistent Donald was credited as a screenwriter and was nominated for an Academy Award. The film's end credits claimed he had died during pre-production.