1979 Pulitzer Prize
# 1979 Pulitzer Prize

The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1979.

## Journalism awards

* Public Service:
   * The Point Reyes Light, a California weekly. For its investigation of Synanon, (written by Dr. Richard Ofshe).
* Local General or Spot News Reporting:
   * The San Diego Evening Tribune, for its coverage of the collision of a Pacific Southwest air liner with a small plane over its city.
* Local Investigative Specialized Reporting:
   * Gilbert M. Gaul and Elliot G. Jaspin of the Pottsville Republican (Pennsylvania), for stories on the destruction of the Blue Coal Company by men with ties to organized crime.
* National Reporting:
   * James Risser of the Des Moines Register, for a series on farming damage to the environment.
* International Reporting:
   * Richard Ben Cramer of The Philadelphia Inquirer, for reports from the Middle East.
* Feature Writing:
   * Jon D. Franklin, science writer of The Baltimore Evening Sun, for an account of brain surgery.
* Commentary:
   * Russell Baker of The New York Times.
* Criticism:
   * Paul Gapp, architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune.
* Editorial Writing:
   * Edwin M. Yoder Jr. of the Washington Star.
* Editorial Cartooning:
   * Herbert Lawrence Block (Herblock) of The Washington Post, for the body of his work.
* Spot News Photography:
   * Thomas J. Kelly III of the Pottstown Mercury (Pennsylvania), for a series called Tragedy on Sanatoga Road.
* Feature Photography:
   * Staff Photographers of the Boston Herald American, for photographic coverage of the blizzard of 1978.

## Letters, Drama and Music Awards

* Fiction:
   * The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (Alfred A. Knopf)
* Drama:
   * Buried Child by Sam Shepard (Urizen)
* History:
   * The Dred Scott Case by Don E. Fehrenbacher (Oxford University Press)
* Biography or Autobiography:
   * Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews by Leonard Baker (Macmillan Publishers (United States))
* Poetry:
   * Now and Then by Robert Penn Warren (Random House)
* General Non-Fiction:
   * On Human Nature by Edward O. Wilson (Harvard University Press)
* Music:
   * Aftertones of Infinity by Joseph Schwantner (C. F. Peters) first performed by the American Composers Orchestra on January 29, 1979, in Alice Tully Hall New York City.
