Norman Lear Producers Guild Awards - P 2011
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty ImagesAll in the Family creator Norman Lear will be honored with the Evelyn F. Burkey Award at the 2015 Writers Guild Awards East Coast ceremony.
Bill Moyers will present Lear with the Burkey Award, which recognizes a person or organization whose contributions have brought honor and dignity to writers.
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In addition to All in the Family, Lear, 92, wrote sketches for Jack Haley, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis and Martha Raye and wrote and produced Maude, Sanford and Son, Good Times, The Jeffersons and One Day at a Time. He also is known for his social activism, including co-founding People for the American Way in 1981.
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“Over several decades, the Writers Guild East has presented the Burkey Award to celebrate the achievements of leaders — in the arts or politics — who have advanced the causes of creativity and freedom of speech. This year, by honoring Norman Lear, we choose a man who spans the worlds of both the arts and public affairs,” WGA East president Michael Winship said in a statement. “Over his long career as a writer and producer, he has given audiences laughter that entertains and provokes. As a spokesman and advocate, he has been a forthright and resolute defender of civil liberty.”
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Evelyn Burkey helped create the WGA East and served as its executive director until her retirement in 1972. The award was established in 1978, and past recipients include James Schamus, Edward Albee, Walter Bernstein, Joan Didion, Claire Labine, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Arthur Miller, Jacqueline Babbin and Walter Cronkite.
Larry Wilmore will host the 2015 WGA Awards New York ceremony, which will occur simultaneously with an L.A. ceremony Feb. 14.
The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, TV, new media, video games, news, radio, promotion and graphic animation.
