TIP-OFF July 3, 2003 NCSA DRAMA ALUMNUS NOMINATED FOR TWO HUMANITAS PRIZES Peter Hedges, For ABOUT A BOY and PIECES OF APRIL
WINSTON-SALEM – Peter Hedges, who studied acting in the School of Drama at the North Carolina School of the Arts, has been nominated for two HUMANITAS Prizes. A total of 41 writers were named finalists in seven categories for the 2003 HUMANITAS Prize. The writers will be competing for a total of $105,000 in prize money, to be handed out at the annual luncheon on July 10 at the Hilton University Hotel in Los Angeles. The HUMANITAS Prize was created 29 years ago to encourage, stimulate and sustain writers in their humanizing task and to give them the recognition they deserve. Hedges is nominated in the Feature Film Category, which awards a $25,000 prize, for the ABOUT A BOY screenplay he wrote with Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz. Hedges and the Weitz brothers were nominated earlier this year for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film, which stars Hugh Grant. The Weitz brothers also directed the film, which is based on the novel by Nick Hornby. Hedges is also nominated in the Sundance Feature Film Category, which carries a $10,000 prize, for PIECES OF APRIL, which was contender in the festival’s Dramatic Competition and was later sold to United Artists. Written and directed by Hedges, the film stars Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson and Derek Luke. Hedges, who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NCSA in 1984, is well-known as a novelist, playwright and screenwriter. He wrote the book and screenplay for WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE (for which Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for an Academy Award), and the screenplay for A MAP OF THE WORLD. His most recent novel is “An Ocean in Iowa,” published by Hyperion Press. His plays include “Baby Anger” (Playwrights Horizons), “Good As New” (Manhattan Class Company) and “Imagining Brad” (Circle Repertory Theatre), all of which have been published by Dramatists Play Service. A native of Iowa, Hedges now lives in New York with his wife and two children. Hedges recently acted as a creative adviser at the Sundance Institute’s June Filmmakers and Screenwriters Labs, which ran May 27-June 26 at Utah’s Sundance Village. In addition, it has been announced that Hedges’ film PIECES OF APRIL will makes its East Coast premiere in the Woodstock Film Festival on Sept. 18. Since its inception in 1974, the HUMANITAS Prize has presented almost 200 prizes and dispersed more than $2.1 million in prize money to television and motion picture writers whose work honestly explores the complexities of the human experience and sheds light on the positive values of life. Winners have included Steven Bochco (“Hill Street Blues”), Alan Alda (“MASH”), David E. Kelley (“The Practice”), Tim Robbins (DEAD MAN WALKING), Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (GOOD WILL HUNTING), Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing”) and Kenneth Longeran (YOU CAN COUNT ON ME). For more information, visit the website at www.humanitasprize.org. Media: For more information, contact Marla Carpenter at 336-770-3337 in the public relations office at NCSA.* ###
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TIP-OFF July 3, 2003

NCSA DRAMA ALUMNUS NOMINATED FOR TWO HUMANITAS PRIZES

Peter Hedges, For ABOUT A BOY and PIECES OF APRIL

WINSTON-SALEM – Peter Hedges, who studied acting in the School of Drama at the North Carolina School of the Arts, has been nominated for two HUMANITAS Prizes.

A total of 41 writers were named finalists in seven categories for the 2003 HUMANITAS Prize. The writers will be competing for a total of $105,000 in prize money, to be handed out at the annual luncheon on July 10 at the Hilton University Hotel in Los Angeles. The HUMANITAS Prize was created 29 years ago to encourage, stimulate and sustain writers in their humanizing task and to give them the recognition they deserve.

Hedges is nominated in the Feature Film Category, which awards a $25,000 prize, for the ABOUT A BOY screenplay he wrote with Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz. Hedges and the Weitz brothers were nominated earlier this year for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film, which stars Hugh Grant. The Weitz brothers also directed the film, which is based on the novel by Nick Hornby.

Hedges is also nominated in the Sundance Feature Film Category, which carries a $10,000 prize, for PIECES OF APRIL, which was contender in the festival’s Dramatic Competition and was later sold to United Artists. Written and directed by Hedges, the film stars Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson and Derek Luke.

Hedges, who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NCSA in 1984, is well-known as a novelist, playwright and screenwriter. He wrote the book and screenplay for WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE (for which Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for an Academy Award), and the screenplay for A MAP OF THE WORLD. His most recent novel is “An Ocean in Iowa,” published by Hyperion Press. His plays include “Baby Anger” (Playwrights Horizons), “Good As New” (Manhattan Class Company) and “Imagining Brad” (Circle Repertory Theatre), all of which have been published by Dramatists Play Service. A native of Iowa, Hedges now lives in New York with his wife and two children.

Hedges recently acted as a creative adviser at the Sundance Institute’s June Filmmakers and Screenwriters Labs, which ran May 27-June 26 at Utah’s Sundance Village. In addition, it has been announced that Hedges’ film PIECES OF APRIL will makes its East Coast premiere in the Woodstock Film Festival on Sept. 18.

Since its inception in 1974, the HUMANITAS Prize has presented almost 200 prizes and dispersed more than $2.1 million in prize money to television and motion picture writers whose work honestly explores the complexities of the human experience and sheds light on the positive values of life. Winners have included Steven Bochco (“Hill Street Blues”), Alan Alda (“M*A*S*H”), David E. Kelley (“The Practice”), Tim Robbins (DEAD MAN WALKING), Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (GOOD WILL HUNTING), Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing”) and Kenneth Longeran (YOU CAN COUNT ON ME). For more information, visit the website at www.humanitasprize.org.

Media: For more information, contact Marla Carpenter at 336-770-3337 in the public relations office at NCSA.

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