Writing (Motion Picture Story) — Every Winner and Nominee

Every film recognised in the Oscars Writing (Motion Picture Story) category in CineRoll's records: 48 films across 10 years, 10 of them winners.

The most recent winner is The Brave One (1957); the earliest on record is Miracle on 34th Street (1948).

The last three winners were The Brave One (1957), Love Me or Leave Me (1956) and Broken Lance (1955).

The list is newest first. Each year shows the winner at the top, then the other nominees; a year with enough nominees links to its own page.

Last updated August 12, 2026

1957

The Brave One(1956)
Dalton Trumbo
Winner
The Eddy Duchin Story(1956)
Leo Katcher
The Proud and the Beautiful(1953)
Jean Paul Sartre
Umberto D.(1952)
Cesare Zavattini
Umberto D.(1952)

1956

Love Me or Leave Me(1955)
Daniel Fuchs
Winner
Rebel Without a Cause(1955)
Nicholas Ray
Strategic Air Command(1955)
Beirne Lay, Jr.
The Private War of Major Benson(1955)
Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher
The Sheep Has Five Legs(1954)
Jean Marsan, Henry Troyat, Jacques Perret, Henri Verneuil, Raoul Ploquin

1955

Broken Lance(1954)
Philip Yordan
Winner
Bread, Love and Dreams(1953)
Ettore Margadonna
Forbidden Games(1952)
François Boyer
Night People(1954)
Jed Harris, Tom Reed
There's No Business Like Show Business(1954)
Lamar Trotti

1954

Roman Holiday(1953)
Dalton Trumbo
Winner
Above and Beyond(1952)
Beirne Lay, Jr.
Little Fugitive(1953)
Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin
The Captain's Paradise(1953)
Alec Coppel

1953

The Greatest Show on Earth(1952)
Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett
Winner
My Son John(1952)
Leo McCarey
The Narrow Margin(1952)
Martin Goldsmith, Jack Leonard
The Pride of St. Louis(1952)
Guy Trosper
The Sniper(1952)
Edna Anhalt, Edward Anhalt

1952

Seven Days to Noon(1950)
Paul Dehn, James Bernard
Winner
Bullfighter and the Lady(1951)
Budd Boetticher, Ray Nazarro
Here Comes the Groom(1951)
Robert Riskin, Liam O'Brien
Teresa(1951)
Alfred Hayes, Stewart Stern
The Frogmen(1951)
Oscar Millard

1951

Panic in the Streets(1950)
Edna Anhalt, Edward Anhalt
Winner
Bitter Rice(1949)
Giuseppe De Santis, Carlo Lizzani
Mystery Street(1950)
Leonard Spigelgass
The Gunfighter(1950)
William Bowers, Andre de Toth
When Willie Comes Marching Home(1950)
Sy Gomberg

1950

The Stratton Story(1949)
Douglas Morrow
Winner
Come to the Stable(1949)
Clare Boothe Luce
It Happens Every Spring(1949)
Shirley W. Smith, Valentine Davies
Sands of Iwo Jima(1949)
Harry Brown
White Heat(1949)
Virginia Kellogg

1949

The Search(1948)
Richard Schweizer, David Wechsler
Winner
Louisiana Story(1948)
Frances Flaherty, Robert Flaherty
Red River(1948)
Borden Chase
The Naked City(1948)
Malvin Wald
The Red Shoes(1948)
Emeric Pressburger

1948

Miracle on 34th Street(1947)
Valentine Davies
Winner
A Cage of Nightingales(1945)
Georges Chaperot, Rene Wheeler
It Happened on Fifth Avenue(1947)
Herbert Clyde Lewis, Frederick Stephani
Kiss of Death(1947)
Eleazar Lipsky
Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman(1947)
Dorothy Parker, Frank Cavett

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