16th Writers Guild of America Awards

16th WGA Awards
16th WGA Awards
Date	1964
Organized by	Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West

The 16th Writers Guild of America Awards honored the best film writers and television writers of 1963. Winners were announced in 1964.^[1]

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first highlighted in boldface.^[2]

Best Written American Drama Hud, Screenplay by Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch; Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry America America, Written by Elia Kazan Captain Newman, M.D., Screenplay by Richard L. Breen, Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron; Based on the novel by Leo Rosten The Balcony, Screenplay by Ben Maddow; Based on the play by Bernard Frechtman and Jean Genet The Great Escape, Screenplay by James Clavell and W.R. Burnett; Based on the book by Paul Brickhill The Ugly American, Screenplay by Stewart Stern; Based on the novel by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick	Best Written American Comedy Lilies of the Field, Screenplay by James Poe; Based on the novel by William E. Barrett Charade, Screenplay by Peter Stone; Based on the story by Peter Stone and Marc Behm Irma la Douce, Screenplay by I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder; Based on the play by Alexandre Breffort Love with the Proper Stranger, Written by Arnold Schulman The Thrill of It All, Screenplay by Carl Reiner; Story by Carl Reiner and Larry Gelbart

Episodic Drama *"Man Out of Time" – Route 66* (CBS) – Lawrence B. Marcus** "A Cardinal Act of Mercy: Part 1 & 2" – Ben Casey (ABC) – Norman Katkov "Between Friday and Monday" – Empire (NBC) – Ken Trevey The S.S. American Dream – Naked City (ABC) – Frank Pierson "A Book for Burning" – The Defenders (CBS) – William Woolfolk	Anthology, Any Length *"The Last of the Big Spenders" – The Dick Powell Theatre* (NBC) – Richard Alan Simmons "A Pair of Boots" – The Lloyd Bridges Show (CBS) – Mort R. Lewis** "The Seven Deadly Sins" – Look Up and Live (CBS) – Don Kellerman "The Judge" – The Dick Powell Theatre (NBC) – Bruce Geller
Comedy/Variety, Any Length *"Barney's First Car" – The Andy Griffith Show* (CBS) – James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum** Bob Hope Christmas Show (NBC) – Mort Lachman, Bill Larkin, John Rapp, Lester A. White, Charles Lee, Norman Sullivan and Gig Henry "A Small Matter of Being Fired" – I'm Dickens, He's Fenster (ABC) – Leonard Stern and Don Hinkley "When I Was Your Age" – My Three Sons (ABC) – Ernest Chambers "Barney Mends a Broken Heart" – The Andy Griffith Show (CBS) – Aaron Ruben "It May Look Like a Walnut" – The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS) – Carl Reiner

^ "Writers Guild Awards Winners: 1995-1949". wga.org. Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on December 4, 2025. Retrieved February 20, 2026.
^ "Writers Guild of America, USA (1964)". IMDb. Retrieved May 28, 2019.

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 Limited Series TV & New Media Pictures Short Form New Media New Series Children's Script
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 Long Form – Adapted Long Form – Original Documentary Script – Current Events Documentary Script – Other Than Current Events
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 2025 Years are of film release; ceremonies are held the following year