| Year |
Winner |
| 1940 |
The Great McGinty - Preston Sturges |
| 1941 |
Citizen Kane - Herman Mankiewicz, Orson Welles |
| 1942 |
Woman of the Year - Michael Kanin, Ring Lardner Jr |
| 1943 |
Princess O'Rourke - Norman Krasna |
| 1944 |
Wilson - Lamar Trotti |
| 1945 |
Marie-Louise - Richard Schweizer |
| 1946 |
The Seventh Veil - Muriel Box, Sydney Box |
| 1947 |
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer - Sidney Sheldon |
| 1948 |
none given |
| 1949 |
Battleground - Robert Pirosh |
| 1950 |
Sunset Boulevard - Charles Brackett, D.M. Marshman, Billy Wilder |
| 1951 |
An American in Paris - Alan Lerner |
| 1952 |
The Lavender Hill Mob - T.E.B. Clarke |
| 1953 |
Titanic - Charles Brackett, Richard Breen, Walter Reisch |
| 1954 |
On the Waterfront - Budd Schulberg |
| 1955 |
Interrupted Melody - Sonya Levien, William Ludwig |
| 1956 |
The Red Balloon - Albert Lamorisse |
| 1957 |
Designing Women - George Wells |
| 1958 |
The Defiant Ones - Nathan Douglas, Harold Smith |
| 1959 |
Pillow Talk - Clarence Greene, Maurice Richlin, Russell Rouse, Stanley
Shapiro |
| 1960 |
The Apartment - I.A.L. Diamond, Billy Wilder |
| 1961 |
Splendor in the Grass - William Inge |
| 1962 |
Divorce, Italian Style - Ennio de Concini, Pietro Germi, Alfredo
Giannetti |
| 1963 |
How the West Was Won - James Webb |
| 1964 |
Father Goose - Peter Stone, Frank Tarloff |
| 1965 |
Darling - Frederic Raphael |
| 1966 |
A Man and a Woman - Claude Lelouch, Pierre Uytterhoeven |
| 1967 |
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - William Rose |
| 1968 |
The Producers - Mel Brooks |
| 1969 |
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - William Goldman |
| 1970 |
Patton - Francis Ford Coppola, Edmund North |
| 1971 |
The Hospital - Paddy Chayefsky |
| 1972 |
The Candidate - Jeremy Larner |
| 1973 |
The Sting - David Ward |
| 1974 |
Chinatown - Robert Towne |
| 1975 |
Dog Day Afternoon - Frank Pierson |
| 1976 |
Network - Paddy Chayefsky |
| 1977 |
Annie Hall - Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman |
| 1978 |
Coming Home - Robert Jones, Waldo Salt |
| 1979 |
Breaking Away - Steve Tesich |
| 1980 |
Melvin and Howard - Bo Goldman |
| 1981 |
Chariots of Fire - Colin Welland |
| 1982 |
Gandhi - John Briley |
| 1983 |
Tender Mercies - Horton Foote |
| 1984 |
Places in the Heart - Robert Benton |
| 1985 |
Witness - William Kelley, Pamela Wallace, Earl Wallace |
| 1986 |
Hannah and Her Sisters - Woody Allen |
| 1987 |
Moonstruck - John Patrick Shanley |
| 1988 |
Rain Man - Ronald Bass, Barry Morrow |
| 1989 |
Dead Poets Society - Tom Schulman |
| 1990 |
Ghost - Bruce Rubin |
| 1991 |
Thelma and Louise - Callie Khouri |
| 1992 |
The Crying Game - Neil Jordan |
| 1993 |
The Piano - Jane Campion |
| 1994 |
Pulp Fiction - Roger Avary, Quentin Tarantino |
| 1995 |
The Usual Suspects - Christopher McQuarrie |
| 1996 |
Fargo - Ethan Coen, Joel Coen |
| 1997 |
Good Will Hunting - Ben Affleck, Matt Damon |
| 1998 |
Shakespeare in Love - Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard |
| 1999 |
American Beauty - Alan Ball |
| 2000 |
Almost Famous - Cameron Crowe |
| 2001 |
Gosford Park - Julian Fellowes |
| 2002 |
Hable con ella (Talk to Her) - Pedro Almodóvar |
| 2003 |
Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola |
| 2004 |
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Charlie Kaufman, Michel
Gondry and Pierre Bismuth |
| 2005 |
Crash - Paul Haggis, Bobby Moresco |
| 2006 |
Little Miss Sunshine - Michael Arndt |
| 2007 |
Juno – Diablo Cody |
| 2008 |
Milk – Dustin Lance Black |
