Nebula Award for Best Script
The Nebula Award for Best Script was given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for science fiction or fantasy scripts for movies or television episodes. Awards are also given out for published literary works in the novel, novella, novelette, and short story categories. The Nebula Award for Best Script was awarded annually from 1974 through 1978, and from 2000 through 2009. It was presented under several names; in 1974, 1975, and 1977 the award was for Best Dramatic Presentation, while in 1976 the award was for Best Dramatic Writing. The award was discontinued in 2010 and replaced with The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation; this award, though not a Nebula, is presented at the Nebula Awards Ceremony and follows Nebula rules and procedures. The Nebula Awards have been described as one of "the most important of the American science fiction awards" and "the science-fiction and fantasy equivalent" of the Emmy Awards.
Selection process
Nebula Award nominees and winners are chosen by members of the SFWA, though the authors of the nominees do not need to be a member. Works are nominated each year between November 15 and February 15 by published authors who are members of the organization, and the six works that receive the most nominations then form the final ballot, with additional nominees possible in the case of ties. Members may then vote on the ballot throughout March, and the final results are presented at the Nebula Awards ceremony in May. Authors are not permitted to nominate their own works, and ties in the final vote are broken, if possible, by the number of nominations the works received. Beginning with the 2009 awards, the rules were changed to the current format. Prior to then, the eligibility period for nominations was defined as one year after the publication date of the work, which allowed the possibility for works to be nominated in the calendar year after their publication and then reach the final ballot in the calendar year after that. Works were added to a preliminary ballot for the year if they had ten or more nominations, which were then voted on to create a final ballot, to which the SFWA organizing panel was also allowed to add an additional work.Award statistics
During the 15 nomination years, 14 awards for Best Script have been given, including the special award given to in 1978 but not including 1977, since no nominee was given the award. No winner was declared that year as "no award" received the highest number of votes. With three awards The Lord of the Rings film trilogy earned the most awards or nominations of any franchise. The Christopher Nolan Batman movies, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Doctor Who franchises have each had two nominations, but no wins. Hayao Miyazaki, Christopher Nolan, Joss Whedon, and The Lord of the Rings screenwriters have had the most nominations, with three each.Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the work was first released. Entries with a blue background and an asterisk next to the writer's name have won the award; those with a white background are the other nominees on the shortlist. Entries with a gray background and a plus sign mark a year when "no award" was selected as the winner.* Winners and joint winners
+ No winner selected
| Year | Writer | Work | Publisher | Ref. |
| , Harry Harrison * | Soylent Green | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ||
| Westworld | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |||
| Steambath | PBS | |||
| Catholics | ITV | |||
| * | Sleeper | United Artists | ||
| and Don Bachardy, Mary Shelley | ' | NBC | ||
| and Roland Topor, Stefan Wul | Fantastic Planet | Argos Films | ||
| and Gene Wilder, Mary Shelley * | Young Frankenstein | United Artists | ||
| and Dan O'Bannon | Dark Star | Jack H. Harris Enterprises | ||
| Harlan Ellison | ' | LQ/JAF | ||
| Rollerball | United Artists | |||
| + | ||||
| Harlan! Harlan Ellison Reads Harlan Ellison | Alternative World Recordings | |||
| , William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson | Logan's Run | United Artists | ||
| , Walter Tevis | ' | Columbia Pictures | ||
| * | ' | 20th Century Fox | ||
| * | ' | Hollywood Pictures | ||
| , Jane Yolen | ' | Showtime Networks | ||
| and Tim McCanlies, Ted Hughes | ' | Warner Bros. | ||
| ' | Private Black Label | |||
| ' | Warner Bros. | |||
| and Robert Gordon* | Galaxy Quest | DreamWorks | ||
| , Stephen King | ' | Warner Bros. | ||
| and Neil Gaiman | Princess Mononoke | Studio Ghibli/Miramax Films | ||
| Being John Malkovich | Propaganda Films | |||
| Unbreakable | Touchstone Pictures | |||
| Dogma | View Askew Productions | |||
| , Kuo Jung Tsai, and Hui-Ling Wang, Wang Dulu * | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Sony Pictures Classics | ||
| O Brother, Where Art Thou? | Touchstone Pictures | |||
| and Bryan Singer, David Hayter | X-Men | 20th Century Fox | ||
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "The Body" | Fox Television Studios/Mutant Enemy Productions | |||
| , Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson, J. R. R. Tolkien * | ' | New Line Cinema | ||
| and Terry Rossio | Shrek | DreamWorks | ||
| , Stephen King | ': "Unreasonable Doubt" | DreamWorks | ||
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "Once More, With Feeling" | Warner Bros. | |||
| , Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Peter Jackson, J. R. R. Tolkien * | ' | New Line Cinema | ||
| and Jon Cohen, Philip K. Dick | Minority Report | 20th Century Fox/DreamWorks | ||
| Futurama: "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" | Fox Broadcasting Company | |||
| , Cindy Davis Hewitt, and Donald H. Hewitt | Spirited Away | Studio Ghibli/The Walt Disney Company | ||
| , Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds | Finding Nemo | Pixar/The Walt Disney Company | ||
| , Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson, J. R. R. Tolkien * | ' | New Line Cinema | ||
| ' | Pixar/The Walt Disney Company | |||
| and Eric Bress | ' | New Line Cinema | ||
| & Michel Gondry | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Focus Features | ||
| * | Serenity | Universal Studios/Mutant Enemy Productions | ||
| , Bradley Thompson, and David Weddle | Battlestar Galactica: "Act of Contrition/You Can't Go Home Again" | Sci-Fi Channel | ||
| , Cindy Davis Hewitt, and Donald H. Hewitt | Howl's Moving Castle | Studio Ghibli/The Walt Disney Company | ||
| and David S. Goyer | Batman Begins | Warner Bros. | ||
| Battlestar Galactica: "Unfinished Business" | Sci-Fi Channel | |||
| Doctor Who: "The Girl in the Fireplace" | BBC Cymru Wales/BBC One | |||
| * | Pan's Labyrinth | Picturehouse | ||
| , Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby, P. D. James | Children of Men | Universal Studios | ||
| Doctor Who: "Blink" | BBC Cymru Wales/BBC One | |||
| and Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Priest | ' | Touchstone Pictures | ||
| , David Lloyd | V for Vendetta | Warner Bros. | ||
| and Michael Reaves | ': "World Enough and Time |World Enough and Time" | Cawley Entertainment Company/The Magic Time Company | ||
| , Jim Reardon and Pete Docter* | WALL-E | Pixar/The Walt Disney Company | ||
| , Jonathan Nolan, and David S. Goyer | Warner Bros. | |||
| Stargate Atlantis: "The Shrine" | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |