# List of awards and nominations received by Elaine May

The following is a list of awards and nominations received by American comedian, writer, director, producer and actor Elaine May.
She began her career as a improvisational comedian with Mike Nichols during the 1960s. Together, they performed onstage from clubs in Greenwich Village to the Broadway stage. They released multiple comedy albums, receiving four Grammy Award nominations and winning the Best Comedy Album award in 1962 for An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May. For her work on film, she has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for her work on Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Mike Nichols' Primary Colors (1998). She received an Academy Honorary Award in 2021. For her work on the Broadway stage, she received a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for Kenneth Lonergan's revival of The Waverly Gallery in 2019.
In 2013, May was awarded the National Medal of Arts for her lifetime contributions to American comedy by President Barack Obama in a ceremony in the White House. She was awarded for her "groundbreaking wit and a keen understanding of how humor can illuminate our lives, Ms. May has evoked untold joy, challenged expectations, and elevated spirits across our Nation." In 2019, May's film A New Leaf was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

## Major associations
### Academy Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1978 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Heaven Can Wait (shared with Warren Beatty) | Nominated |
| 1998 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Primary Colors | Nominated |
| 2021 | Academy Honorary Award | — | Honored |

### British Academy Film Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1999 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Primary Colors | Won | |

### Golden Globe Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1971 | Best Actress – Comedy or Musical | A New Leaf | Nominated | |

### Grammy Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1959 | Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word | Improvisations to Music | Nominated |
| 1959 | Best Comedy Album | Improvisations to Music | Nominated |
| 1962 | Best Comedy Album | An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May | Won |
| 1963 | Best Comedy Album | Mike Nichols & Elaine May Examine Doctors | Nominated |

### Tony Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 2019 | Best Actress in a Play | The Waverly Gallery | Won | |

## Critics awards
### National Society of Film Critics

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 2000 | Best Supporting Actress | Small Time Crooks | Won | |

### Los Angeles Film Critics Association

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 2019 | Career Achievement Award | — | Honored | |

### Online Film Critics Society

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1998 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Primary Colors | Nominated | |
| 2000 | Best Supporting Actress | Small Time Crooks | Nominated | |

## Theatre awards
### Drama Desk Award

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1969 | Most Promising Playwright | Adaptation | Won | |
| 2019 | Outstanding Actress in a Play | The Waverly Gallery | Won | |

### Drama League Award

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 2019 | Distinguished Performance Award | The Waverly Gallery | Nominated | |

### Outer Critics Circle Award

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1969 | Special Theatrical Award | Adaptation / Next | Won |
| 1969 | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Adaptation / Next | Won |
| 2019 | Outstanding Actress in a Play | The Waverly Gallery | Won |

## Other awards
### American Comedy Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1994 | Lifetime Achievement Award | — | Honored | |

### Chlotrudis Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 2001 | Best Supporting Actress | Small Time Crooks | Nominated | |

### Saturn Awards

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1978 | Best Writing | Heaven Can Wait (shared with Warren Beatty) | Won | |

### USC Scripter Awards

| Year | Nominated work | Receipts | Result | Ref. |
| 1999 | Primary Colors (based on the novel Primary Colors) | Elaine May (screenwriter), Joe Klein (author) | Nominated | |

### Writers Guild of America

| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1971 | Best Adapted Comedy | A New Leaf | Nominated |
| 1978 | Best Adapted Comedy | Heaven Can Wait (shared with Warren Beatty) | Won |
| 1996 | Best Adapted Screenplay | The Birdcage | Nominated |
| 1998 | Best Adapted Screenplay | Primary Colors | Nominated |
| 2016 | Laurel Screenwriting Award | — | Honored |