Eugene O’Neill Awards

Television host and entertainer Phil Donahue (second from left) was awarded with the Irish American Writers and Artists’ annual Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award in a dinner gala ceremony at New York City’s Manhattan Club in October. Pictured with Donahue above are IAW&A director Maria Deasy, Rosie O’Donnell, and IAW&A presenter Mark Butler.
Donahue is awarded for his lifetime of service to the television industry, including pioneering audience interaction in talk shows and his opposition to the Iraq war in 2003, which resulted in his firing from MSNBC. Past honorees have included Brian Dennehy, Judy Collins, John Patrick Shanley, Pete Hamill, and Irish America’s own Patricia Harty. ♦