The guild awards are chosen by a vote of the group's 9,000 members.
Only three times since the guild award was created in 1948 has the winner failed to also win the Oscar.
At that very same moment, the head at the local school hands out the "guild awards" to the students who have won them.
The film also earned him a Directors Guild award.
She later won a Writer's Guild Award in 2001.
She and her colleagues were three times awarded the Writer's Guild Award for best news script.
The award is presented at a ceremony alongside the other guild awards since the awards inception in 1994.
As part of the team he was winner of the Writers' Guild award for best drama serial in 1993 and 2009.
Only three times since the guild award was created in 1948 has the winner failed to capture the Academy Award as best director.
Smith's work has been nominated for three Emmys and two Writer's Guild awards.