“My So-Called Life” creator and “Wicked” writer Winnie Holzman has been chosen to receive Humanitas’ Kieser Award, while writer and comedian Ashley Nicole Black has been named host of this year’s Humanitas Awards Show & Toast, the organization announced Monday.

Also on Monday, Humanitas announced the nominees for this year’s ten Humanitas Awards and revealed that Starz is returning as a key sponsor of the awards show.

The ceremony, which will also announce the 2026 New Voices Fellows Awards, the College Screenwriting Awards and the Starz #TakeTheLead Award, will take place at Avalon Hollywood on September 9.

The Humanitas Award honors “film and television writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. The awards are presented at an annual event where winners receive a trophy and a cash prize.” Here are this year’s nominees:

Drama Teleplay

“Chicago Med” (“The Book of Carlos”): 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

“Shrink” (“My Bad”): Brian Gallivan

Limited Series Teleplay
“Beef” (“Oh, The Comfort, The Inexpressible Comfort”): Lee Sung Jin, Madeleine Pron

“DTF St. Louis” (“No one is normal. It just looks that way from the other side of the street”): Steven Conrad

“Hal & Harper” (“Are You Watching?”): Cooper Raiff

“Washington Black” (“The Flying Man and the Musician”): Selwyn Hinds

Children’s telegame
“EB 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”: Tiffany Thomas

“Tab Time” (“When we lose someone”): Sean Presant

Dramatic feature film
“All that remains of you”: Cherien Dabis

“Preparation for the next life”: Martyna Majok

“Blue Sung Song”: Craig Brewer

“Train Dreams”: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar

Comedy feature
“A Good Indian Boy”: Eric Randall

“Rental Family”: Hikari, Stephen Blahut

“The Invitation”: Will McCormack, Rashida Jones

“The Baltimorens”: Jay Duplass, Michael Strassner

Family characteristic
“Elio”: Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones, Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi

“Growing Up”: Nick Güthe, Christos N. Gage, Ruth Fletcher Gage

“Hoppers”: Jesse Andrews, Daniel Chong

“KPop Demon Hunters”: Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, Danya Jiménez, Hannah McMechan

Short film
“Beyond the Unstoppable”: Valerie Alexander

“Double Happiness”: Shari Albert, Laura LeeLun

“The Birthday Present”: Stephanie Alison Walker, Paula Pizzi

“Vital”: Amir Zargara, Gabe Berry

Documentary (feature film)
“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

“Shuffled”: Benjamin Flaherty

Documentary (Docuseries, Single Episode)
“Billy Joel: And So It Goes” (“Part Two”): Susan Lacy, Jessica Levin

“Katrina: Come Hell and High Water”: 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

In Holman’s case, the Kieser Award “honors those who have dedicated their talent, work and substantial resources to creating transformative stories that celebrate our common humanity.” Previous winners include Greg Berlanti, Marta Kauffman, John Sacret Young, John Ridley, Jason Katims, Fay Kanin and Bill Moyers.

In addition to “My So-Called Life” and “Wicked,” Holzman’s other credits include “Thirtysomething,” “Once and Again: and “Huge.” As an actress, she has been seen in “Jerry Maguire,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Comeback” and “A Man on the Inside.” Most recently, she co-wrote both screenplays for the film adaptations of “Wicked.”

“Winnie has consistently explored the complexities of the human condition with compassion, intelligence and emotional honesty. Winnie’s work has made generations struggling with coming of age and identity feel seen,” said Humanitas CEO Michelle Franke. “We admire her strong commitment to mentoring and training writers, as we saw up close when she twice served as a mentor in our New Voices Fellowship program. We are honored to recognize her with our highest honor, the Kieser Award, this September.”

As for the Starz #TakeTheLead award, the honor aims to “amplify narratives written by, about, and for women and underrepresented audiences.”

“Starz’s generosity has had a profound impact on Humanitas’ work over the past four years, especially in supporting our New Voices Fellowship,” Franke said. “In 2026, we are thrilled to offer the #TakeTheLead award once again. We will share more application details via our website in the coming weeks and more programming details at the Humanitas Awards event this fall.”

Additionally, the winners of the 2026 New Voices Fellowship, the David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award, and the Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award will be revealed at The Humanitas Prizes Awards Show & Toast.

“The New Voices Scholarship is a six-month mentoring program, while the College Screenwriting Awards carry professional commitments and significant cash prizes. The New Voices Scholarship and College Screenwriting Awards semi-finalist lists are available on the organization’s website.”

In addition to being the culminating event of the annual awards program, The Humanitas Prizes Awards Show & Toast raises financial support for the New Voices Fellowship, College Screenwriting Awards, and programs including the Industry 101 event series and The Writers Room program for high school students.

As for Black, the writer and comedian has worked on “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking,” where she also appears recurring. Her other credits include “Bad Monkey” and “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.”