23rd Writers Guild of America Awards

Award ceremony for writing of 1970

23rd WGA Awards
Date	1971
Organized by	Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West
← 22nd WGA Awards 24th →

The 23rd Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best film writers and television writers of 1970. Winners were announced in 1971.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first highlighted in boldface.

Best Drama Written Directly for the Screenplay

Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screenplay

Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium

I Never Sang for My Father, Screenplay by Robert Anderson; Based on "I Never Sang for My Father" by him
- Airport, Screenplay by George Seaton; Based on the novel by Arthur Hailey
- Catch-22, Screenplay by Buck Henry; Based on the novel by Joseph Heller
- Little Big Man, Screenplay by Calder Willingham; Based on the novel by Thomas Berger
- The Great White Hope, Screenplay by Howard Sackler; Based on the play by Howard Sackler

Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium

MASH, Screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr.; Based on the novel by Richard Hooker
- Lovers and Other Strangers, Screenplay by Renée Taylor, Joseph Bologna and David Zelag Goodman; Based on the play by Joseph Bologna and Renée Taylor
- The Owl and the Pussycat, Screenplay by Buck Henry; Based on the play by Bill Manhoff
- The Twelve Chairs, Screenplay by Mel Brooks; Based on the novel by Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petro
- Where's Poppa?, Screenplay by Robert Klane; Based on his novel

Episodic Comedy

"The Valediciton" – Room 222 (ABC) – Richard de Roy
- "The Fourth Estate" – My World and Welcome to It (NBC) – Lila Garrett and Bernie Kahn
- "Funny Money" – Room 222 (ABC) – Steven Pritzker
- "Check the check" – The Governor & JJ (CBS) – Arne Sultan and Earl Barret

Episodic Drama

"A Continual Roar of Musketry: Part 1 & 2" – The Bold Ones: The Senator (NBC) – David W. Rintels
- "Meanwhile Back at the Studio" – Bracken's World (NBC) – Joseph Bonaduce
- "Infinity" – Bracken's World (NBC) – Cliff Gould
- "Trouble in Mind" – Hawaii Five-O (CBS) – Mel Goldberg and Sasha Gilien
- "The Glass Prison" – The Young Lawyers (ABC) – John W. Bloch

Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement
James Poe
Valentine Davies Award
Daniel Taradash
Morgan Cox Award
Leonard Spigelgass
Edmund J North Award
Lamar Trotti

"Awards Winners". wga.org. Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
"Writers Guild of America, USA (1971)". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-06-08.

v t e Writers Guild of America Awards
Film Awards	Best Adapted Screenplay Best Original Screenplay Best Documentary Screenplay
Television/ New Media Awards	Animation Comedy Series Comedy/Variety Talk Series Comedy/Variety Specials Comedy/Variety Sketch Series Daytime Serials Drama Series Episodic Comedy Episodic Drama Long Form – Adapted Long Form – Original Short Form New Media New Series Children's Script Documentary Script – Current Events Documentary Script – Other Than Current Events
Special Awards	Paul Selvin Award Valentine Davies Award Animation Writers Caucus Animation Writing Award Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement Evelyn F. Burkey Award
Former Awards	Musical Western American Scene Drama Comedy
Ceremonies	1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Years are of film release; ceremonies are held the following year