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Pulitzer Prize for Drama

The most prestigious of all drama awards, it was created in 1917 by Joseph Pulitzer to honor “the original American play performed in New York which shall best represent the educational value and power of the stage in raising the standards of good morals and good manners.” The drama Pulitzer, given by the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, is a playwright's award, given to a script and not a production, and carries much weight since there is only one category. The winner cannot be based on a previous play (eliminating most musicals from winning), and the committee can withhold the award one year if it deems no works are worthy of it. Over the years the Pulitzer's decisions have often been criticized, and displeasure with them prompted the founding of the New York Drama Critics Circle and its awards. The script no longer need be produced in New York to win, allowing regional theatre premieres to be eligible. All of the Pulitzer winners have their own entry. They are: 1918: Why Marry?; 1920: Beyond the Horizon; 1921: Miss Lulu Bett; 1922: Anna Christie; 1923: Icebound; 1924: Hell‐Bent for Heaven; 1925: They Knew What They Wanted; 1926: Craig's Wife; 1927: In Abraham's Bosom; 1928: Strange Interlude; 1929: Street Scene; 1930: The Green Pastures; 1931: Alison's House; 1932: Of Thee I Sing; 1933: Both Your Houses; 1934: Men in White; 1935: The Old Maid; 1936: Idiot's Delight; 1937: You Can't Take It with You; 1938: Our Town; 1939: Abe Lincoln in Illinois; 1940: The Time of Your Life; 1941: There Shall Be No Night; 1943: The Skin of Our Teeth; 1945: Harvey; 1946: State of the Union; 1948: A Streetcar Named Desire; 1949: Death of a Salesman; 1950: South Pacific; 1952: The Shrike; 1953: Picnic; 1954: The Teahouse of the August Moon; 1955: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; 1956: The Diary of Anne Frank; 1957: Long Day's Journey into Night; 1958: Look Homeward, Angel; 1959: J. B.; 1960: Fiorello!; 1961: All the Way Home; 1962: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; 1965: The Subject Was Roses; 1967: A Delicate Balance; 1969: The Great White Hope; 1970: No Place to Be Somebody; 1971: The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man‐in‐the‐Moon Marigolds; 1973: That Championship Season; 1975: Seascape; 1976: A Chorus Line; 1977: The Shadow Box; 1978: The Gin Game; 1979: Buried Child; 1980: Talley's Folly; 1981: Crimes of the Heart; 1982: A Soldier's Play; 1983: 'night, Mother; 1984: Glengarry Glen Ross; 1985: Sunday in the Park with George; 1987: Fences; 1988: Driving Miss Daisy; 1989: The Heidi Chronicles; 1990: The Piano Lesson; 1991: Lost in Yonkers; 1992: The Kentucky Cycle; 1993: Angels in America, Part I: Millennium Approaches; 1994: Three Tall Women; 1995: The Young Man from Atlanta; 1996: Rent; 1998: How I Learned to Drive; 1999: Wit; 2000: Dinner with Friends; 2001: Proof; 2002: Topdog/Underdog; 2003: Anna in the Tropics; 2004: I Am My Own Wife; and 2005: Doubt, A Parable.

 
 
Wikipedia: Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prizes
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The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.

From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than being the calendar year. The decision was made, however, that the 2007 Prize would consider works staged during an eligibility period of January 1 to December 31, 2006--thus bringing the schedule for the Drama Prize in line with those of the other prizes.

The drama jury, which consists of one academic and four critics, attends plays in New York and in regional theaters. The Pulitzer board has the authority to overrule the jury's choice, however, as happened in 1986 when the jury chose the CIVIL warS to receive the prize, but due to the board's opposition no award was given.

Also, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was selected for the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Drama by that award's committee. However, the committee's selection was overruled by the award's advisory board, the trustees of Columbia University, because of the play's then-controversial use of profanity and sexual themes. Had he been awarded, he would be tied with Eugene O'Neill for the most Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (four).

Musicals as recipients

Only seven musicals have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama -- about one per decade from the 1930s to the 1990s. They are as follows: Of Thee I Sing (1932), South Pacific (1950), Fiorello! (1960), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1962), A Chorus Line (1976), Sunday in the Park with George (1985), and Rent (1996).

The award goes to the playwright, although production of the play is also taken into account. In the case of a musical being awarded the prize, the composer, lyricist and story author are generally the recipients.

Recipients by year

Multiple Winners

Only a few playwrights have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama more than once.


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American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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