Humanitas Prize announces 2002 nominees

LOS ANGELES, June 10 (UPI) -- The screenwriters of "A Beautiful Mind," "I Am Sam" and "Iris" were named finalists Monday for the 28th Humanitas Prizes, awarded each year "to encourage, stimulate and sustain writers in their humanizing task and to give them the recognition they deserve."

The Rev. Frank Desiderio, president of the Humanitas Prize, made the announcement.

"It is gratifying to read the best of television and film scripts and hear in them a prophetic voice calling us to dig deeply into our humanity and use our freedom to make noble choices," said Desiderio, a Roman Catholic priest and president of Paulist Productions. The Los Angeles-based company produces and distributes movie and TV and radio programs that promote Christian values.

The Humanitas Prize nomination is the latest in a long list of accolades for "A Beautiful Mind," based on Sylvia Nasser's book about the life of schizophrenic Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash. Akiva Goldsman won an Oscar for the screenplay, and the movie picked up best picture and best director Oscars for producer Brian Grazer and director Ron Howard.

Kristine Johnson and Jessie Nelson were nominated for a Humanitas Prize for "I Am Sam," starring Oscar nominee Sean Penn as a man with the mental capacity of a 7-year-old who fights for custody of his daughter.

Richard Eyre and Charles Wood were nominated for their screenplay for "Iris," the story of the lifelong romance between writer Iris Murdoch and her husband, John Bayley, including her battle with Alzheimer's disease. Judi Dench and Kate Winslet were nominated for best actress and supporting actress Oscars for their portrayal of Murdoch, and Jim Broadbent won the supporting actor Oscar for his performance as Bayley.

In the TV categories, HBO took the most nominations with three. ABC, ABC Family, CBS and NBC had two each.

"The Laramie Project" (HBO), "Sins of the Father" (FX) and "Within These Walls" (Lifetime) were nominated in the 90-minute-or-longer/cable category.

In the 90-minute-or-longer/network category, the nominees are "Anne Frank" (ABC), "Crossed Over" (CBS) and "The Rosa Parks Story" (CBS).

Other nominees include the "Bastogne" episode of "Band of Brothers" (HBO), the "Honor Code" episode of "The Practice" (ABC) and the "Two Cathedrals" episode of "The West Wing" (NBC).

The ABC Family series "State of Grace" took two of the three nominations in the 30-minute TV program category, for episodes titled "Looking for God in All the Right Places" and "Love, Love, Me Do." An episode titled "My Old Lady" from the NBC comedy "Scrubs" took the third nomination in the category.

The Humanitas Prize was established in 1974 by the late Rev. Ellwood "Bud" Kaiser, who died in 2000. The organization has handed out 200 prizes and distributed more than $2 million in prize money to movie and TV writers.

Past winners have included Steven Bochco ("Hill Street Blues"); Alan Alda ("M*A*S*H"); Steve Zaillian ("Schindler's List"); Tim Robbins ("Dead Man Walking"); Matt Damon and Ben Affleck ("Good Will Hunting"); Aaron Sorkin ("Sports Night," "The West Wing"); and Kenneth Lonergan ("You Can Count on Me").

The nominated writers will compete for $130,000 in prize money to be distributed when the 28th Humanitas Prizes are presented in Los Angeles on June 25.