The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1948.

Journalism awards

• Public Service:
  • St. Louis Post-Dispatch for the coverage of the Centralia mine disaster in Illinois, and the follow-up which resulted in impressive reforms in mine safety laws and regulations.^[1]
• Local Reporting:
  • George E. Goodwin of the Atlanta Journal for his story of the Telfair County vote fraud, published in 1947.
• National Reporting:
  • Nat S. Finney of the Minneapolis Tribune for his stories on the plan of the Truman administration to impose secrecy about the ordinary affairs of federal civilian agencies in peacetime.
  • Bert Andrews of the New York Herald Tribune for his articles on "A State Department Security Case" published in 1947.
• International Reporting:
  • Paul W. Ward of The Baltimore Sun for his series of articles published in 1947 on "Life in the Soviet Union".^[2]
• Editorial Writing:
  • Virginius Dabney of the Richmond Times-Dispatch for distinguished editorial writing during the year.
• Editorial Cartooning:
  • Reuben Goldberg of the New York Sun for "Peace Today".
• Photography:
  • Frank Cushing of the Boston Traveler for his photo, "Boy Gunman and Hostage".

Letters, Drama and Music Awards

• Fiction:
  • Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener (Macmillan).
• Drama:
  • A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (New Directions).
• History:
  • Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard De Voto (Harper).
• Biography or Autobiography:
  • Forgotten First Citizen: John Bigelow by Margaret Clapp (Little).
• Poetry:
  • The Age of Anxiety by W. H. Auden (Random).
• Music:
  • Symphony, No. 3 by Walter Piston first performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston, January 1948.

Special citations

• Frank D. Fackenthal, acting president of Columbia University, was awarded a scroll recognizing his years of service to the Pulitzer Prizes.^[3]