ANTWONE FISHER - ANTWONE FISHER AMONG HUMANITAS HONOURS

Sciptwriter ANTWONE FISHER and WHALE RIDER director NIKI CARO were among those honoured with HUMANITAS awards yesterday (10JUL03) for contributions to film and television.

Antwone won a $25,000 (GBP15,600) prize at the Los Angeles ceremony for his self-titled autobiographical account of his search for strength and acceptance. The book was later made into a film by first-time director DENZEL WASHINGTON.

Niki received $10,000 (GBP6,250) for her screen adaptation of Whale Rider, a New Zealand film currently performing strongly at the box office.

Elsewhere, GORDON RAYFIELD won $25,000 (GBP15,600) in the 90-minute plus TV category for OUR AMERICA, and producer DAVID E KELLEY received $15,000 (GBP9,400) for the hour television category for the FINAL JUDGMENT episode of THE PRACTICE.

The Humanitas ceremony was created in 1974 to honour movie and TV writers whose work delves deep into human behaviour.

Among those attending this year's (03) presentations were THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH director MICHAEL APTED and FARGO star WILLIAM H MACY.