Geoffrey Fletcher, the screenwriter of "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire", has become the first African American screenwriter to take home an Academy Award.

Fletcher, 39, an adjunct professor of film at Columbia University and NYU, surprised some by beating favourite Jason Reitman, writer/director of "Up in the Air".

"I don't know what to say," the New York Daily News quoted Fletcher as saying during his acceptance speech.

This was the Connecticut-born writer's first produced screenplay, for which he was also awarded an Independent Spirit Award. (ANI)