ROBINSON, ALLEN SHARE WRITERS GUILD AWARD

Times Staff Writer

Bruce Robinson ("The Killing Fields") and Woody Allen ("Broadway Danny Rose") took the top screenwriting awards at the Writers Guild of America annual awards ceremonies Wednesday night.

Robinson was honored for best screenplay adaptation (from Sydney Schanberg's New York Times magazine article) at the Beverly Hilton ceremonies. Allen took best original script honors, beating out the Oscar favorite, Robert Benton, for "Places in the Heart."

The guild also presented awards for television and radio writing.

Edward Hume's teleplay for ABC's "The Day After" won for original drama anthology. Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn won for adapted anthology for ABC's "The Dollmaker," based on Harriette Arnow's novel.

Burt Prelutsky won the original comedy anthology award for "Hobson's Choice," a CBS movie based on Harold Brighouse's play.

The episodic drama award went to Jeffrey Lewis, Michael Wagner, Karen Hall and Mark Frost for the "Grace Under Pressure" episode of NBC's "Hill St. Blues," from a story by Steven Bochco, Lewis and David Milch.

Episodic comedy honors went to Michael J. Weithorn for the "Sumner's Return" episode of "Cheers" on NBC. The music or comedy variety show award went to Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna for "Bedrooms" on pay TV.

The multi-part long form series category produced a tie between Charles Gary Allison and William Bast for NBC's "The First Olympics--Athens, 1896," Part 1, and Harold Gast for "The Jesse Owens Story," Part 2, on syndicated TV.

Jeffrey Kindley won the children's show award for "The Great Love Experiment," on ABC.

Current-events documentary was a tie between Robert Northshield for CBS' "Paradise Lost" and Robert Zalisk for "Nuclear Strategy for Beginners" on WGBH. Feature documentary went to H. Austin Hoyt for "LBJ Goes to War" in WGBH's Vietnam history series.

The TV news winner was Mervin Block for "A Selection of Spot News Scripts," on the "CBS Evening News." The daytime serial winner was the 16-person writing team of "Search for Tomorrow."

Radio documentary honors went to Norman Morris, Peter Freundlich and Mary Lou Teel for "Exploring America After Columbus" on CBS Radio. The news award went to David P. Ysais, "News of the Day, October 13, 1983" on CBS.

The radio drama winner was Jan Hartman for "The Next War" on American Public Radio. The comedy category produced a tie between John A. Boyle for "Goodbye, Walter, Goodbye" and Dick Ryal for "The Calumet," both from the New Heartbeat Theater.

The guild also presented several honorary awards.

Danny Arnold, co-creator, producer and co-writer of "Barney Miller," won the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel award for lifetime television achievement. William Goldman won the Laurel award for screenwriting achievement.

The Morgan Cox award for guild service went to Edmund L. Hartmann, while the Founders award was given to Mary C. McCall Jr. and accepted by her daughter, Sheila Benson. Charles Champlin was presented the Valentine Davies award for contributions to the community at large.

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