Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay

The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material; writers with "written by", "screenplay" or "story" credits are all collectively recognized as recipients for each nomination.

The category was created in 1940, and has always existed concurrently with the Best Adapted Screenplay category (conversely for films based on pre-existing intellectual properties); originally, it also co-existed with a third writing category, Best Story, which had been active since the original Academy Awards ceremony in 1929; this latter award was meant to reward specifically writers who originated a film's plot and characters rather than those who wrote the dialogue and final screenplay, although Best Story would later be merged into Best Original Screenplay in 1956.