Five Fun Facts About The Pulitzer Prize For Drama

Long before the Tony Awards, the Pulitzer Prize For Drama was the coveted honor that playwrights dreamed of and newspaper ads bragged about. In his will, newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer spelled out his desire for annual awards in journalism and letters, exclusively for American writers, to be established with money left by him to Columbia University.

The journalism awards fall into various categories such as Breaking News Reporting, Feature Writing, Editorial Cartooning and Breaking News Photography. In letters, there are prizes for Fiction, Drama, History, Biography or Autobiography, Poetry and Non-Fiction. The first awards were presented in 1917. An award for music was added in 1943.

As with the others, the Pulitzer Prize For Drama is determined by a unique system whereby a jury, consisting of one academic and four critics, collectively submit their agreed-upon preferences to an advisory board, made up of Columbia University trustees, who make the final decision. While the award can go to any American author, it's preferred that the play chosen be original in source and one that deals with some aspect of American life.

Sometimes, the board goes against the jury's choice, as was the case in 1963, when they declined to give the award to Edward Albee for WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, preferring not to have the prize associated with the play's harsh language and sexual themes. In 1951 the board rejected the jury's selection of GUYS AND DOLLS because bookwriter Abe Burrows' loyalties were being questioned by the House Un-American Activities Committee. No award was given each of those years. Some would say that the 1962 prize for HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING was partly an apology to Burrows and Frank Loesser, who wrote the scores for both musicals.

The 2016 Pulitzer Prizes will be announced today at 3pm. A full history of the prize can be enjoyed at pulitzer.org, but you can get a head start with these Five Fun Facts About The Pulitzer Prize For Drama:

The prize got off to a questionable start in 1917. No American play that year was determined worthy so it wasn't awarded. A quick scan of the eligible plays of that time reveal no notable titles that were overlooked.

Eugene O'Neill won three Pulitzers during the 1920s, for BEYOND THE HORIZON (1920), ANNA CHRISTIE (1922) and STRANGE INTERLUDE (1928). When the Pulitzer Prize went to its first musical, OF THEE I SING in 1932, some would say that it was only because they didn't want to give it to O'Neill again, despite the impressive achievement of his MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA. O'Neill's fourth Pulitzer would come posthumously in 1957 for LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT.

The idea that a musical could win the Pulitzer Prize For Drama wasn't even considered until OF THEE I SING was honored, so the award was given only to bookwriters George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind and lyricist Ira Gershwin. Eventually it was decided to include composer George Gershwin and all future composers of Pulitzer-winning musicals.

Michael Bennett is the only non-writer, non-composer to receive a Pulitzer Prize For Drama. His direction and choreography was considered so intrinsic to the text of A CHORUS LINE that he was named along with bookwriters Nicholas Dante and James Kirkwood, Jr., composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Edward Kleban.

In 1983 the Pulitzers began announcing finalists along with the winners. Sam Shepard's TRUE WEST was the first finalist ever announced. In subsequent years there have generally been two finalists named, the only musicals among them being IN THE HEIGHTS (2009) and FUN HOME (2014).