A 'Precious' accomplishment for Fletcher

Geoffrey Fletcher is now Oscar winner Geoffrey Fletcher.

The Waterford native won the Academy Award on Sunday for best-adapted screenplay for "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire."

"I don't know what to say," a choked-up Fletcher said in his acceptance speech. "This is for everybody who works on a dream every day, Precious boys and girls everywhere. All the cast and crew. Anyone who's kept believing in me. My two brothers supported me in every way. My role models, my heroes, Buddy and Todd. My mother, Bettye, angel of my world. My father, Alphonse, who spent so much time with us and taught us everything. I'm sorry, I'm drawing a blank right now, but I thank everyone."

"Precious" was, in fact, Fletcher's first feature film. After getting his undergraduate degree from Harvard and his graduate degree from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Fletcher, now 39, struggled to break into the movie industry.

But Fletcher, who now lives in New York City, continued writing and directing his own short movies, eventually gaining the attention of "Precious" director Lee Daniels for one of his short films.

Winning the Oscar caps a phenomenal run for Fletcher. He won an Independent Spirit Award earlier in the weekend for best first screenplay. He won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing for a Motion Picture for "Precious" last weekend. He was nominated for a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts).