{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{WGA awards short description|works-year=1961}} {{Infobox film awards|number=14|award=WGA Awards|date=1962|organizer=Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West|last=13th|next=15th}}

The '''14th Writers Guild of America Awards''' honored the best film writers and television writers of 1961. Winners were announced in 1962.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://awards.wga.org/awards/nominees-winners/1995-1949 |title=Writers Guild Awards Winners: 1995-1949 |work=wga.org |publisher=Writers Guild of America |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251204222131/https://awards.wga.org/awards/nominees-winners/1995-1949 |archive-date=2025-12-04 |access-date=2026-02-20 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Winners and nominees ==

=== Film === Winners are listed first highlighted in '''boldface'''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000710/1962/1/|title=Writers Guild of America, USA (1962)|website=IMDb|access-date=2019-05-23}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" | valign="top" width="50%" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Best Written Musical}}

* '''''West Side Story'', Screenplay by Ernest Lehman; Based on the book by Arthur Laurents & the play by Jerome Robbins''' ** ''Babes in Toyland'', Screenplay by Ward Kimball and Lowell S. Hawley; Based on the operetta by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough ** ''Blue Hawaii'', Screenplay by Hal Kanter; Story by Allan Weiss ** ''Flower Drum Song'', Screenplay by Joseph Fields; Based on the novel by C.Y. Lee ** ''Snow White and the Three Stooges'', Screenplay by Noel Langley and Elwood Ullman; Story by Charles Wick | valign="top" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Best Written American Drama}}

* '''''The Hustler'', Screenplay by Sidney Carroll and Robert Rossen; Based on the novel by Walter Tevis''' ** ''A Raisin in the Sun'', Written by Lorraine Hansberry ** ''Fanny'', Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein; Based on the play by S.N. Behrman and Joshua Logan ** ''The Innocents'', Screenplay by William Archibald and Truman Capote; Based on the story "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James ** ''Judgment at Nuremberg'', Screenplay by Abby Mann; Story by Abby Mann |- | valign="top" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Best Written American Comedy}} * '''''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', Screenplay by George Axelrod; Based on the breby Truman Capote''' ** ''A Majority of One'', Written by Leonard Spigelgass ** ''The Absent Minded Professor'', Screenplay by Bill Walsh; Story by Samuel W. Taylor ** ''One, Two, Three'', Screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond; Based on the play by Ferenc Molnár ** ''The Parent Trap'', Screenplay by David Swift; Based on the book by Erich Kästner | |}

=== Television === {| class="wikitable" | valign="top" width="50%" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Episodic Drama}} * '''"The Fault in Our Stars" – ''Naked City'' (ABC) – Barry Trivers''' ** "The Fatalist" – ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' (CBS) – Shimon Wincelberg ** "Incident of the Buffalo Soldier" – ''Rawhide'' (CBS) – John Dunkel ** "No Sale" – ''The Law and Mr. Jones'' (ABC) – Palmer Thompson ** "Brown" – ''The Westerner'' (NBC) – Bruce Geller | valign="top" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Anthology, Any Length}} * '''"Death of the Temple Bay" – ''The DuPont Show with June Allyson'' (CBS) – Christopher Knopf''' ** "The Hidden World" – ''Armstrong Circle Theatre'' (NBC) – Alvin Boretz ** "Eye of the Beholder" – ''The Twilight Zone'' (CBS) – Rod Serling |- | valign="top" | {{Award category|#EEDD82|Comedy/Variety, Any Length}} * '''"The Manhunt" – ''The Andy Griffith Show'' (CBS) – Charles Stewart and Jack Elinson''' ** "Everybody's Doin' It" – ''Art Carney Special'' (NBC) – Herbert Sargent ** ''The Arthur Murray Special for Bob Hope'' – Lester A. White, John Rapp, Mort Lachman, Bill Larkin, Charles Lee and Norman Sullivan |}

=== Special awards === {| class="wikitable" style="width=" ! colspan="2" style="background:{{WGA Awards/color}};" |Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement |- | colspan="2" style="vertical-align:top;" | '''Philip Dunne''' |- ! colspan="2" style="background:{{WGA Awards/color}};" |Valentine Davies Award |- | colspan="2" style="vertical-align:top;" | '''Mary C. McCall Jr.''' |}

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131019053744/http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=3888 WGA.org]

{{WGA Awards Chron}}

1961 W Writers Guild of America Awards Writers Guild of America Awards Writers Guild of America Awards