NEW YORK (AP) — Dan O'Brien's "The Body of an American" and Robert Schenkkan's "All the Way" have been named the inaugural winners of a theater award honoring the late Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.
New York's Columbia University on Friday said the playwrights will share the award and $100,000, one of the largest prizes given for dramatic writing.
The Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History honors a new play or musical that explores the United States' past and deals with great issues of the day.
The prize was established by Kennedy's sister Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith in consultation with playwright Tony Kushner. It will be announced each year on Feb. 22, the anniversary of Kennedy's birth.
The senator died of cancer in 2009.
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Online: http://kennedyprize.columbia.edu
