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National Humanities Medal

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National Humanities Medal

The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans' access to important resources in the humanities."

Contents

The annual Charles Frankel Prize in the Humanities was established in 1988 and succeeded by the National Humanities Medal in 1997. The initial design for the National Humanities Medal was created by a 1995 Frankel Prize winner, David Macaulay, and was used for all recipients through 2012. During 2013, The National Endowment for the Humanities ran a public competition for a new medal design, judged by metalsmith Chunghi Choo, coin engraver Don Everhart of the U.S. Mint and sculptor George Anthonisen. In June 2013, the agency announced that a design by Paul C. Balan of Illinois had been selected as the winner. The final medal will be unveiled in Washington D.C. in November 2013. The new design was used for the first time for the 2013 National Humanities Medals, which were presented in mid-2014.

Medals are conferred once annually, usually by the U.S. President, to as many as twelve living candidates and existing organizations nominated early in the calendar year. The President selects the winners in consultation with the National Endowment for the Humanities.

NEH asks that nominators consult the list of previous winners and consider the National Medal of Arts to recognize contributions in "the creative or performing arts".

Recipients

Medalists are listed by year, then alphabetically.

2015 (awarded September 22, 2016)
  • Rudolfo Anaya, Author
  • José Andrés, Chef & Entrepreneur
  • Ron Chernow, Author
  • Louise Glück, Poet
  • Terry Gross, Radio Host & Producer
  • Wynton Marsalis, Composer & Musician
  • James McBride, Author
  • Louis Menand, Author
  • Elaine Pagels, Historian & Author
  • Prison University Project, Higher Education Program
  • Abraham Verghese, Physician, Professor, & Author
  • Isabel Wilkerson, Journalist & Author
  • 2014 (awarded September 10, 2015)
  • The Clemente Course in the Humanities
  • Annie Dillard, author
  • Everett L. Fly, architect and preservationist
  • Rebecca Goldstein, philosopher and novelist
  • Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, historian
  • Jhumpa Lahiri, short story writer and novelist
  • Fedwa Malti-Douglas, scholar
  • Larry McMurtry, novelist
  • Vicki Lynn Ruiz, historian
  • Alice Waters, author and food activist
  • 2013 (awarded July 28, 2014)
  • M. H. Abrams, literary critic
  • American Antiquarian Society, historical organization
  • David Brion Davis, historian
  • William Theodore de Bary, East Asian Studies scholar
  • Darlene Clark Hine, historian
  • Johnpaul Jones, architect
  • Stanley Nelson Jr., producer and director
  • Diane Rehm, radio host
  • Anne Firor Scott, historian
  • Krista Tippett, radio host and author
  • 2012 (awarded July 10, 2013)
  • Edward L. Ayers, historian
  • William G. Bowen, academic leader
  • Jill Ker Conway, author and leader in higher education
  • Natalie Zemon Davis, historian
  • Frank Deford, sports writer
  • Joan Didion, novelist and essayist
  • Robert D. Putnam, political scientist
  • Marilynne Robinson, novelist
  • Kay Ryan, poet
  • Robert B. Silvers, editor
  • Anna Deavere Smith, actress and playwright
  • Camilo José Vergara, photographer and documentarian
  • 2011 (awarded February 13, 2012)
  • Kwame Anthony Appiah, philosopher
  • John Ashbery, poet
  • Robert Darnton, historian and librarian
  • National History Day, program
  • Andrew Delbanco, literary scholar
  • Charles Rosen, musician and scholar
  • Teofilo Ruiz, medieval historian
  • Ramón Saldívar, literary scholar
  • Amartya Sen, economist and Nobel laureate
  • 2010 (awarded March 2, 2011)
  • Daniel Aaron, literature professor and publisher
  • Bernard Bailyn, historian
  • Jacques Barzun, historian
  • Wendell Berry, novelist and environmentalist
  • Roberto González Echevarría, literature critic
  • Stanley Nider Katz, historian
  • Joyce Carol Oates, novelist
  • Arnold Rampersad, critic and biographer
  • Philip Roth, novelist
  • Gordon S. Wood, historian
  • 2009 (awarded February 25, 2010)
  • Robert Caro
  • Annette Gordon-Reed
  • David Levering Lewis
  • William H. McNeill
  • Philippe de Montebello
  • Albert H. Small
  • Ted Sorensen
  • Elie Wiesel
  • 2008 (awarded November 17, 2008)
  • Gabor Boritt
  • Richard Brookhiser
  • Harold Holzer
  • Myron Magnet
  • Albert Marrin
  • Milton J. Rosenberg
  • Thomas A. Saunders III and Jordan Horner Saunders
  • Robert H. Smith
  • John Templeton Foundation
  • Norman Rockwell Museum
  • 2007 (awarded November 15, 2007)
  • Stephen Balch
  • Russell Freedman
  • Victor Davis Hanson
  • Roger Hertog
  • Cynthia Ozick
  • Richard Pipes
  • Pauline Schultz
  • Henry Snyder
  • Ruth Wisse
  • Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art
  • 2006
  • Fouad Ajami
  • James M. Buchanan
  • Nickolas Davatzes
  • Robert Fagles
  • Mary Lefkowitz
  • Bernard Lewis
  • Mark Noll
  • Meryle Secrest
  • Kevin Starr
  • Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University
  • 2005
  • Walter Berns
  • Matthew Bogdanos
  • Eva Brann
  • John Lewis Gaddis
  • Richard Gilder
  • Mary Ann Glendon
  • Leigh Keno
  • Leslie Keno
  • Alan Charles Kors
  • Lewis Lehrman
  • Judith Martin
  • The Washington Papers, University of Virginia
  • 2004
  • Marva Collins
  • Gertrude Himmelfarb
  • Hilton Kramer
  • Madeleine L'Engle
  • Harvey Mansfield
  • John Searle
  • Shelby Steele
  • United States Capitol Historical Society
  • 2003
  • Robert Ballard
  • Joan Ganz Cooney
  • Midge Decter
  • Joseph Epstein
  • Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
  • Jean Fritz
  • Hal Holbrook
  • Edith Kurzweil
  • Frank M. Snowden, Jr.
  • John Updike
  • 2002
  • Frankie Hewitt
  • Iowa Writers' Workshop
  • Donald Kagan
  • Brian Lamb
  • Art Linkletter
  • Patricia MacLachlan
  • Mount Vernon Ladies' Association
  • Thomas Sowell
  • 2001
  • José Cisneros
  • Robert Coles
  • Sharon Darling
  • William Manchester
  • Richard Peck
  • Eileen Jackson Southern
  • Tom Wolfe
  • National Trust for Historic Preservation
  • 2000
  • Robert N. Bellah
  • Will D. Campbell
  • Judy Crichton
  • David C. Driskell
  • Ernest Gaines
  • Herman T. Guerrero
  • Quincy Jones
  • Barbara Kingsolver
  • Edmund S. Morgan
  • Toni Morrison
  • Earl Shorris
  • Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
  • 1999
  • Patricia Battin
  • Taylor Branch
  • Jacquelyn Dowd Hall
  • Garrison Keillor
  • Jim Lehrer
  • John Rawls
  • Steven Spielberg
  • August Wilson
  • 1998
  • Stephen E. Ambrose
  • E. L. Doctorow
  • Diana L. Eck
  • Nancye Brown Gaj
  • Henry Louis Gates Jr.
  • Vartan Gregorian
  • Ramón Eduardo Ruiz
  • Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
  • Garry Wills
  • 1997
  • Nina M. Archabal
  • David A. Berry
  • Richard Franke
  • William Friday
  • Don Henley
  • Maxine Hong Kingston
  • Luis Leal
  • Martin Marty
  • Paul Mellon
  • Studs Terkel
  • Charles Frankel Prize

    1996
  • Rita Dove
  • Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • Daniel Kemmis
  • Arturo Madrid
  • Bill Moyers
  • 1995
  • William R. Ferris
  • Charles Kuralt
  • David Macaulay
  • David McCullough
  • Bernice Johnson Reagon
  • 1994
  • Ernest L. Boyer
  • William Kittredge
  • Peggy Whitman Prenshaw
  • Sharon Percy Rockefeller
  • Dorothy Porter Wesley
  • 1993
  • Ricardo E. Alegría
  • John Hope Franklin
  • Hanna Gray
  • Andrew Heiskell
  • Laurel T. Ulrich
  • 1992
  • Allan Bloom
  • Shelby Foote
  • Richard Rodriguez
  • Harold K. Skramstad, Jr.
  • Eudora Welty
  • 1991
  • Winton Blount
  • Ken Burns
  • Louise Cowan
  • Karl Haas
  • John Tchen
  • 1990
  • Mortimer Adler
  • Henry Hampton
  • Bernard M.W. Knox
  • David Van Tassel
  • Ethyle R. Wolfe
  • 1989
  • Patricia L. Bates
  • Daniel Boorstin
  • Willard L. Boyd
  • Clay Jenkinson
  • Américo Paredes
  • References

    National Humanities Medal Wikipedia