12 YEARS A SLAVE is picking up momentum and seems the front runner in the Oscar race for Best Adapted Screenplay. John Ridley's screenplay based on  Solomon Northup's autobiography took home the  USC Libraries Scripter Award honoring the most outstanding adapted screenplay and the author of the original work.

The 2014 finalists were:

• 12 YEARS A SLAVE (author Solomon Northup and screenwriter John Ridley)
• CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty, authors of A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs and Dangerous Days at Sea, and screenwriter Billy Ray)
• PHILOMENA (Martin Sixsmith, author of The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, and screenwriters Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope)
• THE SPECTACULAR NOW (novelist Tim Tharp and screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber)
• WHAT MAISIE KNEW (novelist Henry James and screenwriters Carroll Cartwright and Nancy Doyne).

Also during Saturday night's award show,  CHINATOWN scribe Robert Towne (who won an Oscar for his work) was this year's recipient of the Literary Achievement Award.

(Source)