winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction

winners of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, The Pulitzer Prize for fiction is awarded every year by Columbia University, New York City, for outstanding achievement in fiction. Preferably the work relates to life in the United States and must have been published during the award year by an American author. The prizes, originally endowed with a gift of $500,000 from the newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer, are highly esteemed and have been awarded each May since 1917. In his will, Pulitzer prescribed four awards in journalism, four in books and drama, one for education, and five traveling scholarships. He also established an advisory board with the authority to change the prizes, and the awards have consequently varied in number and category over the years. The prize for novel, for example, was changed to “fiction” in 1948.

Pulitzer also empowered the board to withhold the prize in any category if entries did not meet its standards of excellence. Therefore, there have been years when the award for fiction was not presented. The honorees are chosen by Columbia University on the recommendation of the Pulitzer Prize Board, which is composed of judges appointed by the university. The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for each year is listed below.