Tony Kushner to Receive WGA West's 2013 Paul Selvin Award

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Lincoln screenwriter Tony Kushner will be the recipient of this year's Paul Selvin Award at the WGA Awards ceremony next month, the WGA West said Monday. 

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"I’m happy and moved to learn that I’ve been selected as this year’s recipient for the Paul Selvin Award," said Kushner in a news release. "Paul Selvin was a lawyer who worked hard for unions and civil rights. I love unions, especially the WGA; I love lawyers – Lincoln was a lawyer!"

The ceremony will be held Feb. 17 at the JW Marriott Los Angeles.

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"The best thing about working on the Lincoln screenplay was having to think a lot about the centrality of civil rights to the functioning of democratic society and the means by which those rights are secured, so it means a lot to me to receive this lovely honor," Kushner said. "I'm very grateful to the WGA West."

The critically acclaimed Abraham Lincoln biopic earned a WGA nomination for adapted screenplay. The film boasts 12 Oscar nominations including best picture and best adapted screenplay for Kushner. 

"Tony Kushner’s eloquent script for Lincoln reminds us that, though we like to think of ourselves as the land of the free, in practice, freedom and equality are never a given, and that they are won only through struggle, often by the narrowest of margins and the greatest of sacrifice,” said WGAW president Christopher Keyser in the release. "The guild is honored to recognize it with this award."

Last year, The Help writer-director Tate Taylor received the Selvin Award. Other recipients have included Michael Mann, Eric Roth, Anthony Peckham and Jason Horwitch.