Writers of films including "Zero Dark Thirty," "Lincoln" and "Argo" were named as nominees in contention for top honors to be bestowed by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the WGA, West and WGA, East announced on Friday.

"Zero Dark Thirty" will vie against "Flight," "Looper," "The Master" and "Moorise Kingdom" for the best original screenplay, one of the three awards the group will hand out at the 65th annual event to be simultaneously broadcast in Los Angeles and New York on Feb. 17.

"Lincoln" was nominated for the best screenplay along with "Argo," "Life of Pi," "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "Silver Linings Playbook."

A trio of the Academy Awards hopefuls, "The Invisible War," "Searching for Sugar Man" and "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God," will compete with "The Central Park Five," "We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists" and "West of Memphis" in the best documentary screenplay category.

A number of the Academy Awards frontrunners including "Les Miserables," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Django Unchained" and "Amour" have failed to make the cut as they are deemed ineligible under the stringent WGA rules. Only screenplays written by WGA members or those which fall under the jurisdiction of the guild can qualify.

The WGA awards have been regarded as one of the major honors which closely correlate with the Oscar winners. Among the past 20 WGA winners, 15 went on to nab the Oscars.

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