National Book Award
Der National Book Award ist neben dem Pulitzer-Preis der renommierteste Literaturpreis der USA.
Er wird seit 1950 jährlich vergeben, zur Zeiz in den vier Kategorien Roman, Lyrik, Kinderbuch und Sachbuch vergeben. Zuvor gab es eine Anzahl weiterer Kategorien, die aber nach und nach aufgegeben wurden. Seit 1989 wird der NBA von der eigens zu diesem Zweck gegründeten National Book Foundation verliehen. Für jede Kategorie gibt es eine fünfköpfige unabhängige Jury.
Der Preisträger muss amerikanischer Staatsbürger sein, sein Werk muss in englischer Sprache verfasst und in den USA verlegt sein. Der Preis ist mit 10.000 US-Dollar dotiert.
Preisträger in der Kategorie Prosa
| 1950 | Nelson Algren | The Man With The Golden Arm |
| 1951 | William Faulkner | The Collected Stories of William Faulkner |
| 1952 | James Jones | From Here to Eternity |
| 1953 | Ralph Ellison | Invisible Man |
| 1954 | Saul Bellow | The Adventures of Augie March |
| 1955 | William Faulkner | A Fable |
| 1956 | John O'Hara | Ten North Frederick |
| 1957 | Wright Morris | The Field of Vision |
| 1958 | John Cheever | The Wapshot Chronicle |
| 1959 | Bernard Malamud | The Magic Barre |
| 1960 | Philip Roth | Goodbye, Columbus |
| 1961 | Conrad Richter | The Waters of Kronos |
| 1962 | Walker Percy | The Moviegoer |
| 1963 | J. F. Powers | Morte D'Urban |
| 1964 | John Updike | The Centaur |
| 1965 | Saul Bellow | Herzog |
| 1966 | Katherine Anne Porter | The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter |
| 1967 | Bernard Malamud | The Fixer |
| 1968 | Thornton Wilder | The Eighth Day |
| 1969 | Jerzy Kosinski | Steps |
| 1970 | Joyce Carol Oates | Them |
| 1971 | Saul Bellow | Mr. Sammler's Planet |
| 1972 | Flannery O'Connor | The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor |
| 1973 | John Barth | Chimera |
| 1973 | John Williams | Augustus |
| 1974 | Thomas Pynchon | Gravity's Rainbow (letztlich nicht verliehen) |
| 1974 | Isaac Bashevis Singer | A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories |
| 1975 | Robert Stone | Dog Soldiers |
| 1975 | Thomas Williams | The Hair of Harold Roux |
| 1976 | William Gaddis | JR |
| 1977 | Wallace Stegner | The Spectator Bird |
| 1978 | Mary Lee Settle | Blood Ties |
| 1979 | Tim O'Brien | Going After Cacciato |
| 1980 Hardcover | William Styron | Sophie's Choice |
| 1980 Paperback | John Irving | The World According to Garp |
| 1981 Hardcover | Wright Morris | Plains Song |
| 1981 Paperback | John Cheever | The Stories of John Cheever |
| 1982 Hardcover | John Updike | Rabbit is Rich |
| 1982 Paperback | William Maxwell | So Long, See You Tomorrow |
| 1983 Hardcover | Alice Walker | The Color Purple |
| 1983 Paperback | Eudora Welty | Collected Stories of Eudora Welty |
| 1984 | Ellen Gilchrist | Victory Over Japan: A Book of Stories |
| 1985 | Don DeLillo | White Noise |
| 1986 | E. L. Doctorow | World's Fair |
| 1987 | Larry Heinemann | Paco's Story |
| 1988 | Pete Dexter | Paris Trout |
| 1989 | John Casey | Spartina |
| 1990 | Charles Johnson | Middle Passage |
| 1991 | Norman Rush | Mating |
| 1992 | Cormac McCarthy | All the Pretty Horses |
| 1993 | E. Annie Proulx | The Shipping News |
| 1994 | William Gaddis | A Frolic of His Own |
| 1995 | Philip Roth | Sabbath's Theater |
| 1996 | Andrea Barrett | Ship Fever and Other Stories |
| 1997 | Charles Frazier | Cold Mountain |
| 1998 | Alice McDermott | Charming Billy |
| 1999 | Ha Jin | Waiting |
| 2000 | Susan Sontag | In America |
| 2001 | Jonathan Franzen | The Corrections |
| 2002 | Julia Glass | Three Junes |
| 2003 | Shirley Hazzard | The Great Fire |
| 2004 | Lily Tuck | The News from Paraguay |
Preisträger in der Kategorie Dichtung
| 1950 | William Carlos Williams | Paterson: Book III and Selected Poems |
| 1951 | Wallace Stevens | The Auroras of Autumn |
| 1952 | Marianne Moore | Collected Poems |
| 1953 | Archibald MacLeish | Collected Poems, 1917-1952 |
| 1954 | Conrad Aiken | Collected Poems |
| 1955 | Wallace Stevens | The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens |
| 1956 | W. H. Auden | The Shield of Achilles |
| 1957 | Richard Wilbur | Things of the World |
| 1958 | Robert Penn Warren | Promises: Poems, 1954-1956 |
| 1959 | Theodore Roethke | Words for the Wind |
| 1960 | Robert Lowell | Life Studies |
| 1961 | Randall Jarrell | The Woman at the Washington Zoo |
| 1962 | Alan Dugan | Poems |
| 1963 | William Stafford | Traveling Through the Dark |
| 1964 | John Crowe Ransom | Selected Poems |
| 1965 | Theodore Roethke | The Far Field |
| 1966 | James Dickey | Buckdancer's Choice: Poems |
| 1967 | James Merrill | Nights and Days |
| 1968 | Robert Bly | The Light Around the Body |
| 1969 | John Berryman | His Toy, His Dream, His Rest |
| 1970 | Elizabeth Bishop | The Complete Poems |
| 1971 | Mona Van Duyn | To See, To Take |
| 1972 | Howard Moss | Selected Poems |
| 1972 | Frank O'Hara | The Collected Works of Frank O'Hara |
| 1973 | A. R. Ammons | Collected Poems, 1951-1971 |
| 1974 | Allen Ginsberg | The Fall of America: Poems of these States, 1965-1971 |
| 1974 | Adrienne Rich | Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972 |
| 1975 | Marilyn Hacker | Presentation Piece |
| 1976 | John Ashbery | Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror |
| 1977 | Richard Eberhart | Collected Poems, 1930-1976 |
| 1978 | Howard Nemerov | The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov |
| 1979 | James Merrill | Mirabell: Book of Numbers |
| 1980 | Philip Levine | Ashes |
| 1981 | Lisel Mueller | The Need to Hold Still |
| 1982 | William Bronk | Life Supports: New and Collected Poems |
| 1983 | Galway Kinnell | Selected Poems |
| 1983 | Charles Wright | Country Music: Selected Early Poems |
| 1991 | Philip Levine | What Work Is |
| 1992 | Mary Oliver | New & Selected Poems |
| 1993 | A. R. Ammons | Garbage |
| 1994 | James Tate | A Worshipful Company of Fletchers |
| 1995 | Stanley Kunitz | Passing Through: The Later Poems |
| 1996 | Hayden Carruth | Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey |
| 1997 | William Meredith | Effort at Speech: New & Selected Poems |
| 1998 | Gerald Stern | This Time: New and Selected Poems |
| 1999 | Ai | Vice: New & Selected Poems |
| 2000 | Lucille Clifton | Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry |
| 2001 | Alan Dugan | Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 |
| 2002 | Ruth Stone | In the Next Galaxy |
| 2003 | C.K. Williams | The Singing |
| 2004 | Jean Valentine | Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003 |