Humanitas Prizes Go to TV, Movie Writers : Awards: For the first time, the annual honors celebrating human dignity and values include films.

L.A. Times Archives

July 15, 1994 12 AM PT

Writers from “NYPD Blue,” “Murphy Brown,” “Schindler’s List” and the TV movie “And the Band Played On” were honored Thursday in the 20th annual Humanitas Prizes for entertainment screenplays that communicate positive values.

The Pacific Palisades-based Human Family Educational and Cultural Institute awarded $120,000 to writers in seven categories. Three of those honored in luncheon ceremonies at the Sheraton Universal in the San Fernando Valley had won before.

Judging was done by directors and trustees of the institute, whose purpose is “to encourage, stimulate and honor writers for their scripts that affirm the dignity of human beings, probe the meaning of human life and embrace the state of human freedom.”

The winners, selected from nearly 400 entries:

* Burton Armus and David Milch shared the $15,000 award for best 60-minute prime-time script for an episode of ABC’s “NYPD Blue” called “Personal Foul,” which the judges cited for its message that “it is necessary to forgive and to be forgiven if we are ever going to be a compassionate and loving society.” Milch won in 1983 for an episode of “Hill Street Blues.”

* In the PBS/cable category, Arnold Schulman was awarded $25,000 for his adaptation of “And the Band Played On” for HBO, which the judges praised for its “penetrating dramatization of the courageous men and women” who sought to discover the source of the AIDS virus.

* Rob Bragin won $10,000 for an episode of CBS’ “Murphy Brown” called “Reaper Madness,” which the judges called a “witty and poignant probe into the universal question of what happens when we die.”

* Steven Zaillian, already an Academy Award winner for his screenplay for “Schindler’s List,” captured the $25,000 prize in the feature film category, the first time motion pictures had been eligible. His work was cited for “its epic depiction of the difference one flawed human being can make, even when confronted by the most demonic of obstacles.”

* Bob Randall picked up a check for $25,000 for best two-hour prime-time script, for the TV movie “David’s Mother” on CBS, about a mother caring for an autistic son. Randall had won in 1987 for an episode of “Kate & Allie.”

* Joseph Maurer got the $10,000 prize for children’s live-action television, for a “CBS Schoolbreak Special” called “Love in the Dark Ages,” about teen-age sexuality. He also won in this category in 1992 for “Dedicated to the One I Love.”

* In the category for children’s TV animation, James Howard Kunstler won $10,000 for his rendering of “Johnny Appleseed,” a Showtime program about the American legend.