Leonard Maltin, a film historian and professor at USC, described the immense challenges inherent in successfully adapting a literary work into film. He remarked that the single greatest challenge is to balance the delicate line of remaining faithful to the original work but not simply being a word for word recreation.

The nominees this year were as follows:

• Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for "127 Hours" (based on “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” by Aron Ralston)
• Aaron Sorkin for "The Social Network" (based on “Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich)
• Roman Polanski and Robert Harris for "The Ghost Writer" (based on “The Ghost” by Robert Harris)
• Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini for "Winter’s Bone" (based on “Winter’s Bone" by Daniel Woodrel)
• Joel and Ethan Coen for "True Grit" (based on “True Grit” by Charles Portis)

It came as little surprise that "The Social Network," adapted for the screen by Aaron Sorkin from Ben Mezrich’s book, walked away with top honors. Sorkin is up for an Oscar nomination later this month, as "The Social Network" is in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for this year's Academy Awards, along with 7 other nominations including the coveted Best Picture.

VIDEO: Watch Aaron Sorkin and Ben Mezrich accept the top award of the night.

Reach reporter Sam Schweikert here.