Hamilton Nolan to Receive WGA East's Richard B. Jablow Award For Devoted Service To The Guild

The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) announced today that Hamilton Nolan will be honored with the Richard B. Jablow Award for Devoted Service to the Guild at the 70th Annual Writers Guild Awards at New York's Edison Ballroom on Sunday, February 11, 2018.

The Jablow Award was established in 1978 to recognize dedicated service to the Guild. It was created in honor of Richard B. Jablow, who helped found the WGAE, authored its constitution, and served as its first counsel. Past recipients include Michael Winship, Warren Leight and James Schamus.

"This award is for the hundreds of digital media workers who have come together to unionize in two short years," said Nolan. "Soon we'll be able to say we've turned a non-union industry into a union industry."

A Guild member since only 2016, Nolan quickly established himself as one of the most prominent champions of organizing the digital news industry. As a labor reporter for Gawker, he worked with his colleagues to help Gawker Media becoming the first major digital media company to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East. Gawker's organizing campaign became the subject of national media attention after journalists there published the article "Why We've Decided to Organize," which offered a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes discussions that go into a union drive. The article kick-started a public dialogue on organizing young workers at time when unions were on the decline and seen as out of vogue.

The successful Gawker union campaign set in motion the series of organizing wins at major digital news outlets like VICE, HuffPost and ThinkProgress, among others. Nolan has been an active and outspoken supporter of the Guild's organizing efforts, and has represented the Guild at prominent labor events at the White House and the AFL-CIO National Convention.

Following Gawker's demise, Nolan moved to Splinter News, part of the newly-renamed Gizmodo Media Group. In 2017, he was one of the first two digital news members elected to the WGAE Council.

Nolan will be presented with the Jablow Award by last year's recipient and fellow WGAE Council member Courtney Simon.

In addition to Hamilton Nolan's receipt of the Jablow Award, Geoffrey C. Ward will be presented with the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement, and Tina Fey and Robert Carlock will be awarded the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence and Mentorship.

The 2018 Writers Guild Awards ceremony in New York will be hosted by Amber Ruffin.

The New York ceremony is sponsored by Vision Media Management and Final Draft.

The Writers Guild Awards honor outstanding writing in film, television, new media, videogames, news, radio, promotional, and graphic animation categories. The awards will be presented at concurrent ceremonies on Sunday, February 11, 2018, in New York City at the Edison Ballroom and in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton. For more information about the 2018 Writers Guild Awards, please visit www.wgaeast.org or www.wga.org.