Philip Seymour Hoffman literary prize announced

Annual $45,000 prize for playwrights in honour of Philip Seymour Hoffman will be funded by magazines which falsely reported that Hoffman had a gay affair with a friend

Philip Seymour Hoffman Photo: Invision/AP

By AFP and Telegraph Reporters

The Telegraph -  26 Feb 2014

An annual prize will award $45,000 to a playwright in honour of Oscar-winning American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died this month from a suspected heroin overdose.

The prize is being funded by magazine The National Enquirer and its publisher, American Media Inc, which falsely reported that Hoffman had a gay affair with a friend.

The friend, David Katz (who is himself a playwright), came up with the idea after settling a libel case over the article, his lawyer Judd Bernstein told AFP.

The newly created American Playwriting Foundation is likely to award the first prize for an unproduced play this year, he said.

The New York Times, which broke the story, said the prize would be called the Relentless Award, in Hoffman's honor. 
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