Dorothy "D.C." Fontana, the personal assistant of Gene Roddenberry who was also a prominent creative force behind Star Trek, has been selected by the Writers Guild of America West (WGAw) to receive this year's Morgan Cox Award for service to the guild.

The award is presented to a WGA member or group of members whose ideas, efforts and personal sacrifice exemplify the ideal of service to the guild. "As a result of her hard work over the years, Dorothy Fontana has made the Guild a better organization," said Victoria Riskin, WGAw president. "She richly deserves this recognition."

Fontana has been a member of the WGAw since 1960, serving on the board of directors twice and working on a variety of guild committees. She actually received a Morgan Cox Award once before, sharing it with other members of the WGAw's Property Planning Committee in 1997.

Fontana, a television writer since the early '60s, is best known for her work on Star Trek. As Roddenberry's secretary, she was among the first to see his original concept for the series in 1964. As story editor and a staff writer, Fontana penned about a dozen adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise — including "Charlie X", the second episode ever aired — and fine-tuned countless others. In particular she had a heavy hand in developing the character of Spock and his family in her script for "Journey to Babel." She continued her ties to Star Trek when she signed on to assist with the Animated Series in the 1970s. And she helped launch Star Trek: The Next Generation by co-writing the series pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint," with Roddenberry, along with several other first-season episodes. She also figured prominently in the Jadzia Dax character by co-writing the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine script "Dax."

Fontana has influenced other TV science fiction by writing for such shows as The Six Million Dollar Man, Babylon 5 and Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict. She has also written episodes of The Waltons, Dallas, Streets of San Francisco, Kung Fu, Bonanza, High Chapparal, Here Come the Brides, The Big Valley and Ben Casey. She was nominated for a Writers Guild Award in 1969 for "Two Percent of Nothing," an episode of Then Came Bronson.

Fontana is also the author of three books: "The Brazos River," "Vulcan's Glory" and "The Questor Tapes" (a novelization of Roddenberry's TV movie about an android who was the precursor to Data).

Fontana will be presented with the honor at the 54th annual Writers Guild Awards on Saturday, March 2.