First-Year Series Take Top Humanitas : Television: Writers of NBC’s ‘I’ll Fly Away’ and CBS’ ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ receive honors for ‘humanizing achievement.’

Two dramas, NBC’s “I’ll Fly Away” and CBS’ “Brooklyn Bridge,” took top awards Wednesday at the 18th annual Humanitas Prize ceremony, honoring writers for their “humanizing achievement” in television.

The 90-minute pilot of “I’ll Fly Away,” which depicts the lives of a white family and an African-American family in the South in 1958, won $25,000 for writers Joshua Brand and John Falsey. The first-year NBC drama also won $15,000 in the 60-minute category for writer Henry Bromell, author of the episode “Amazing Grace,” about racial problems when an African-American domestic worker decides to register to vote.

“By not only winning the 90-minute category but also the 60-minute category, the show is further validated,” Falsey said.

The drama, which will return on Fridays at 10 p.m. in August, has received critical acclaim but not commercial success, Falsey said. “The award can only help the outlook of the show as we head for the fall season.”

Another winner was an episode of “Brooklyn Bridge” written by John Masius, which won $10,000 for the author. Masius’ “Boys of Summer” tells of how a boy comes to grips with his baseball fantasy when he is not chosen as a local top player.

“The Humanitas Prize affirms for me that I’m writing from the right place and am not in some Nielsen void,” Masius said. “You strive to write quality television in your career and it’s nice to be honored.”

The awards were presented during a luncheon at the Century Plaza. A total of $95,000 was handed out by the Pacific Palisades-based Human Family Educational and Cultural Institute, which each year recognizes writers who communicate values that enrich the TV-viewing public.

The PBS/cable award of $25,000 went to Sara Flanigan for the movie “Wildflower,” on Lifetime Television. About an abused girl with epilepsy, the movie was honored for “its depiction of the power of sacrificial love to transform a stunted life into an exuberantly happy one,” said Humanitas judges.

“Dedicated to the One I Love,” a CBS Schoolbreak Special about a high school senior coming to terms with the possibility of having the AIDS virus, won a $10,000 prize in the Children’s Live Action category. Written by Joseph Maurer, the special was cited for “its soul-searching exploration of the fragility of human life.”

“Home Is Where the Home Is,” an episode of “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” written by Bruce Reid Schaefer, won $10,000 for its dramatization “of the struggle to assume responsibility and live with the consequences of your mistakes.”