The Winners of the 71st Annual Writers Guild of America Awards

The Writers Guild of America has just finished handing out their annual awards for 2018 with a big surprise in both of the two top categories.

Bo Burnham won the award for Original Screenplay for "Eighth Grade" over assumed category favorite "Green Book," which is all the more surprising for the fact that Burnham's film is not nominated at the upcoming Oscars. With "Green Book" failing to win here, it would seem to confirm that the Oscar will likely go to "The Favourite," which recently won the category at the BAFTA Awards, while sadly being disqualified from the WGA Awards due to their nonsensical and embarrassing rules.

Over in Adapted Screenplay, Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty pulled off a shocking upset with their screenplay for "Can You Ever Forgive Me?," defeating assumed frontrunner "Blackkklansman." It's not entirely surprising, however, due to the fact that "Blackkklansman" had gotten snubbed for the USC Scripter Award, where "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" had been nominated, but lost. With this shocking development, I imagine a lot of awards experts will be switching their predictions for the upcoming Oscars, as the WGA is generally an excellent prognosticator when all of the major nominees are present.

Speaking of which, we are finally almost at the grand finale of this awards season: The 91st Annual Academy Awards, which will take place on Sunday, February 24th. Be sure to check back for my predictions, which will once again be presented in two separate articles (The Minor Categories and The Major Categories), and of course be sure to return on the big night to see who takes home Oscar gold.

In the meantime, please see below for a list of the Writers Guild of America Award winners:

Original Screenplay: Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade Adapted Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Documentary Screenplay: Ozzy Inguanzo and Dava Whisenant, Bathtubs Over Broadway

Drama Series: The Americans Comedy Series: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

New Series: Barry Episodic Drama: Alex Gansa, "Paean to the People," Homeland Episodic Comedy: Alec Berg and Bill Hader, "Chapter One: Make Your Mark," Barry Long Form Original: Castle Rock Long Form Adapted: American Crime Story Animation: Stephanie Gillis, "Bart's Not Dead," The Simpsons Comedy/Variety Series (Including Talk): Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Comedy/Variety: Music, Awards, Tributes: Specials: The Fake News with Ted Nelms Comedy/Variety: Sketch Series: Nathan for You

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