Living Canon

Pulitzer Prizes 1960: Complete list of winners

The 1960 Pulitzer Prizes arrived at a pivotal moment in American culture, offering five remarkable works that would each leave an indelible mark on their respective fields. Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent, a sweeping political thriller about senatorial intrigue, claimed the Fiction prize and would go on to captivate readers with its insider Washington perspective. Meanwhile, the Drama award went to the sparkling musical Fiorello!, a collaboration between Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick that brought the story of New York’s beloved mayor to the Broadway stage with infectious energy and charm. These two winners alone captured the zeitgeist of a nation growing increasingly engaged with both political discourse and popular entertainment.

The Pulitzer Prize judges that year demonstrated their breadth by honoring equally compelling work across history, biography, and poetry. Samuel Eliot Morison’s meticulous John Paul Jones brought the Revolutionary War naval commander vividly to life, while Margaret Leech’s In the Days of McKinley offered historians a definitive account of a pivotal presidency. Perhaps most notably, W. D. Snodgrass won the Poetry prize for Heart’s Needle, a collection that would prove influential for its confessional intensity and emotional honesty—marking an important shift in American verse toward more personal, intimate expression. Together, these five works showcased the vitality of American writing across genres and forms.

Biography

Drama

  • Fiorello! by Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick

Fiction

History

Poetry