Common Wealth Award
Awarded for	Outstanding achievement(s) in dramatic arts, literature, science, invention, mass communications, public service, government, and sociology.
Country	United States
Presented by	PNC Bank
First awarded	1979

The Common Wealth Awards of Distinguished Service (or Common Wealth Awards) were created under the will of the late Ralph Hayes, an influential American business executive and philanthropist. Hayes conceived the awards to reward and encourage the best of human performance worldwide. Hayes served on the board of directors of PNC Bank, Delaware's predecessor banks from 1935 to 1965. Through the Common Wealth Awards, he sought to recognize outstanding achievement in eight disciplines: dramatic arts, literature, science, invention, mass communications, public service, government and sociology. The awards also provide an incentive for people to make future contributions to the world community.

Ralph Hayes

Hayes worked in the Office of the United States Secretary of War in Washington, D.C., the motion picture industry, publishing, banking, and for the Coca-Cola Company. For 35 years, he was a Coca-Cola executive; he was secretary-treasurer, vice president, and as a director of Coca-Cola International. He was on the board of directors of the Bank of Delaware (now PNC Bank) from 1943 to 1965, having previously been a Director of its predecessor, The Equitable Trust Company, from 1935 to 1943. Hayes also had a long career of public service. He was a chairman of the James Foundation, president of Community Funds, Inc., and a longtime director of the New York Community Trust. He died in 1977 at the age of 82, leaving the Common Wealth Awards as part of his charitable legacy.^[1]

Prize and ceremony

Each recipient of the Common Wealth Award receives a $50,000 prize.^[2] It is presented at an annual, invitation-only, black-tie dinner hosted at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware.

In their 39-year history, the Common Wealth Awards have conferred $6 million in prize money to 201 honorees of international renown.^[2] The awards are funded by the Common Wealth Trust.

Common Wealth Award Writing Contest

Since 2000, more than sixty Delaware high school students have met and talked to the winning world leaders through the Common Wealth Award Writing Contest.^[2] Four winners of the writing contest and their parents or guardians are invited each year to the Common Wealth Awards ceremony, where the honorees are recognized for their lifetime achievement. As time allows, students are often able to talk directly with the winners.

Contest winners are publicly acknowledged at the Common Wealth Awards ceremony and receive a framed picture of themselves taken with the honorees.

List of honorees

Year	Honoree	Discipline	Claim to Fame
1979	Laurence, Lord Olivier  United Kingdom	Dramatic Arts	British actor and founding director of the British National Theatre.
	Joseph Papp  United States	Dramatic Arts	Influential American theatrical director and producer.
	Jay W. Forrester  United States	Science & Invention	Prominent scientist who made outstanding contributions to digital computer technology.
	Charles J. Plank  India	Science & Invention	Chemist and inventor credited with inventing the first commercially applicable apparatus for the breaking of hydrocarbons.
	Edward J. Rosinski  United States	Science & Invention	Chemical engineer and inventor credited with making significant breakthroughs in the technology of hydrocarbon conversions.
	Kingsley Davis  United States	Sociology	American sociologist and demographer who coined the terms population explosion and zero population growth.
	Robert Merton  United States	Sociology	Influential sociologist recognized for coining terms such as, self-fulfilling prophecy and role models.
1980	Peter Brook  United Kingdom	Dramatic Arts
	Agnes de Mille  United States	Dramatic Arts	Famed American dancer and choreographer.
	Gabriel García Márquez  Colombia	Literature	Nobel Prize-winning author and a pioneer of the Latin American Boom.
	Robert Penn Warren  United States	Literature	American poet, novelist, and literary critic; cofounder of New Criticism.
	Clair McCollough  United States	Mass Communications	Radio and television executive, as well as longtime officer of the National Association of Broadcasters
	Lowell Thomas  United States	Mass Communications	American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known for publicizing the story of Lawrence of Arabia.
	James Hillier  Canada	Science & Invention	Physicist and inventor who assisted in the development of an early, commercially successful electron microscope for RCA.
	Lewis H. Sarett  United States	Science & Invention
	James Coleman  United States	Sociology
	Otis Duncan  United States	Sociology	One of the most influential sociologists in history, instrumental in transforming mainstream American sociology.
1981	Harold Pinter  United Kingdom	Dramatic Arts
	Tennessee Williams  United States	Dramatic Arts	Major American playwright of the twentieth century.
	Nadine Gordimer  South Africa	Literature
	Milan Kundera  Czech Republic	Literature
	Walter Cronkite  United States	Mass Communications
	Julian Goodman  United States	Mass Communications
	Howard S. Becker  United States	Sociology
	Peter Blau  Austria	Sociology
1982	Harold Prince  United States	Dramatic Arts	Award-winning producer and director; co-artistic director of the New Phoenix Repertory Company.
	Wright Morris  United States	Literature	American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and photographer.
	Vincent Wasilewski  United States	Mass Communications	President of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).
	Bell Laboratories  United States	Science & Invention	Credited with the discovery of the Fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE).
	Charles Tilly  United States	Sociology
1983	Hume Cronyn  Canada (d.  United States)	Dramatic Arts
	Jessica Tandy  United Kingdom	Dramatic Arts
	Jeane J. Kirkpatrick  United States	Government
	Christopher Isherwood  United Kingdom	Literature
	César Milstein  Argentina	Science & Invention
	Kenneth Lane Thompson  United States	Science & Invention
	William Sewell  United States	Sociology
1984	Athol Fugard  South Africa	Dramatic Arts
	Stephen Sondheim  United States	Dramatic Arts	Award-winning stage musical and film composer & lyricist.
	Eudora Welty  United States	Literature
	Robert Phelan Langlands  Canada	Science & Invention
	Joseph Rubinfeld  United States	Invention	Instrumental in licensing the original anticancer line of products for Bristol-Meyers, as well as development of amoxicillin.
	Matilda White Riley  United States	Sociology	Renowned sociologist and Daniel B. Fayerweather Professor of Political Economy and Sociology Emerita.
1985	Zelda Fichandler  United States	Dramatic Arts	Famed cofounder and producing director of the Arena Stage in Washington.
	Max Frisch   Switzerland	Literature
	Candy Lightner  United States	Public Service	The organizer and founding president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
	Alain Aspect  France	Science & Invention
	Delft Hydraulics Laboratory  Netherlands	Science & Invention
	Peter H. Rossi  United States	Sociology	Prominent sociologist, best known for documenting homelessness in the 1980s.
1986	Samuel Beckett  Ireland	Dramatic Arts
	John Ashbery  United States	Literature	Award-winning American poet.
	Norman Cousins  United States	Mass Communications
	Leon H. Sullivan  United States	Public Service
	Jet Propulsion Laboratory  United States	Science & Invention	NASA research center which specializes in building and operating uncrewed spacecraft.
	Kenneth H. Olsen  United States	Science & Invention	American engineer who co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1957 with a colleague.
	John A. Clausen  United States	Sociology
1987–88	Lloyd Richards  United States (b.  Canada)	Dramatic Arts
	Andrei Voznesensky  Russia	Literature
	Gordon Parks  United States	Mass Communications	Famed American photographer, pianist, film director, and novelist.
	N.T. Pete Shields  United States	Public Service	Cofounder of Handgun Control, a Washington, D.C.-based citizens' gun control lobbying organization
	John B. MacChesney  United States	Science & Invention	Best known for key inventions in the commercial manufacture of optical fiber.
	Robin M. Williams, Jr.  United States	Sociology
1989	Jennifer Tipton  United States	Dramatic Arts	Award-winning American lighting designer.
	George P. Shultz  United States	Government	Former Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Treasury, and head of the Office of Management and Budget.
	Toni Morrison  United States	Literature	Nobel Prize-winning author, editor, and professor.
	David Brinkley  United States	Mass Communications	Emmy nominated television newscaster and host of This Week with David Brinkley from 1982–1997.
	Leroy E. Hood  United States	Science & Invention	American biologist who helped to decode the human genome.
	Alice S. Rossi  United States	Sociology	Cofounder of the National Organization for Women; 74th president of the American Sociological Association.
1990	Jerome Robbins  United States	Dramatic Arts	Academy Award-winning film director and choreographer.
	Aharon Appelfeld  Israel (b.  Romania)	Literature	One of Israel's foremost living Hebrew-language authors.
	David Broder  United States	Mass Communications	Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, talk show pundit, and university professor.
	Jaime Escalante  Bolivia	Public Service
	J.C.R. Licklider  United States	Science & Invention	Renowned for his work on the human-computer dialogue, time sharing, virtual memory, and resource sharing.
	Mirra Komarovsky  Russia	Sociology
1991	James Earl Jones  United States	Dramatic Arts
	Paul A. Volcker  United States	Government	Former chairman of the Federal Reserve.
	Adrienne Rich  United States	Literature
	Sebastião Salgado  Brazil	Mass Communications	Respected photojournalist and Special Representative for UNICEF.
	Roger N. Beachy  United States	Science & Invention	American biologist and founder of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.
	Nathan Keyfitz  Canada	Sociology	Responsible for important work regarding formal demography and population projections.
1992	Arthur Miller  United States	Dramatic Arts
	Warren E. Burger  United States	Government
	James A. Michener  United States	Literature
	Ted Turner  United States	Mass Communications	American media mogul and philanthropist.
	Susan Solomon  United States	Science & Invention	Demonstrated the first conclusive link between manmade CFCs and the ozone holes above Antarctica.
1993	Julie Harris  United States	Dramatic Arts	Three-time Emmy Award-winning and five-time Tony Award-winning actress of stage, screen, and television.
	John Updike  United States	Literature	Prominent American novelist, poet, short story writer, and literary critic.
	Jim Lehrer  United States	Mass Communications	American journalist and anchor for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS.
	Jonas Salk  United States	Public Service	World-renowned for his development of the polio vaccine.
	Charles H. Townes  United States	Science & Invention	Accomplishments range from helping ease the strain of everyday life to studying the origin of the universe.
1994	August Wilson  United States	Dramatic Arts	Prominent African-American playwright.
	Henry A. Kissinger  United States	Government	Former Secretary of State and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; founder of Kissinger Associates.
	Larry King  United States	Mass Communications	Award-winning television and radio broadcaster; host of CNN's Larry King Live.
	Jacques-Yves Cousteau  France	Public Service	Explorer, ecologist, scientist, photographer, and researcher who invented SCUBA and pioneered unaided deep sea diving.
	Leland H. Hartwell  United States	Science & Invention	Widely recognized pioneer in the field of yeastgenetics and cancer research.
1995	Jane Alexander  United States	Dramatic Arts	Award-winning actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts.
	William Styron  United States	Literature	Novelist who explored difficult historical and moral questions.
	Charles Kuralt  United States	Mass Communications	Award-winning American journalist, best known for his long career with CBS.
	James & Sarah Brady  United States	Public Service	Influential members of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
	Karen Uhlenbeck  United States	Science & Invention	Helped in the understanding of the fundamental properties of matter in the universe.
1996	Jason Robards  United States	Dramatic Arts	Award-winning film and television actor.
	Derek Walcott  Saint Lucia	Literature	Nobel Prize-winning poet, playwright, writer, visual artist, and theatre & art critic.
	Ken Burns  United States	Mass Communications	Award-winning documentary filmmaker.
	Eunice Kennedy Shriver  United States	Public Service	Founder of the Special Olympics.
	Andrew Wiles  United Kingdom	Science & Invention	Solved Fermat's Last Theorem, an equation that had perplexed mathematicians for centuries.
1997	Seamus Heaney  Ireland	Literature	Nobel Prize-winning poet, writer, and lecturer.
	Michael E. DeBakey  United States	Science & Invention	Internationally recognized pioneer in the field of cardiovascular research and surgery.
	Jane Goodall  United Kingdom	Public Service	World-renowned for her 45-year study of chimpanzee social and family life.
	Edward Albee  United States	Dramatic Arts	Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary American playwright.
	James H. Clark  United States	Mass Communications	Prolific entrepreneur and former computer scientist; cofounder of Netscape Communications Corporation.
1998	Christopher Plummer  Canada	Dramatic Arts	Actor of stage, screen, and television during his five-decade career.
	Saul Bellow  United States (b.  Canada)	Literature	Nobel Prize-winning novelist.
	Bill Moyers  United States	Mass Communications	Veteran journalist who worked for both CBS and PBS during his nearly four-decade career.
	Betty Ford  United States	Public Service	Founder of the Betty Ford Center, a drug and alcohol dependency treatment center located in Rancho Mirage, CA.
	Stephanie Kwolek  United States	Science & Invention	Was responsible for the creation and discovery of Kevlar during her time at the DuPont Company.
1999	Dr. Louis Miller  United States	Science & Invention	Biologist who has made vast contributions to malaria research and other widespread tropical diseases.
	John Irving  United States	Literature	Bestselling American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.
	Robert MacNeil  Canada	Mass Communications	Former television news anchor and journalist of The MacNeil/Lehrer Report.
	Lawrence Eagleburger  United States	Government	Former Secretary of State and diplomat.
	Julie Taymor  United States	Dramatic Arts	American director of Broadway theatre and film.
2000	Desmond Tutu  South Africa	Public Service	Anglican archbishop, international human rights leader, and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
	E. L. Doctorow  United States	Literature	Foremost American novelist acclaimed for his lyrical, breakthrough fiction.
	Christiane Amanpour  United Kingdom	Mass Communications	CNN chief foreign correspondent and influential reporter of global crises.
	Robert Ballard  United States	Science & Invention	Marine scientist, pioneer of deep ocean exploration, and undersea archaeologist.
	Mikhail Baryshnikov  Russia	Dramatic Arts	Legendary dancer and icon of classical ballet and modern dance.
2001	Morgan Freeman  United States	Dramatic Arts	Veteran actor acclaimed for his classic, commanding roles on stage, screen, and television.
	J. Craig Venter  United States	Science & Invention	Biochemist, entrepreneur, and gene pioneer who succeeded in unlocking the human genetic code.
	James Nachtwey  United States	Mass Communications	Renowned photojournalist who has chronicled the human anguish of war, genocide, and famine worldwide.
	Philip Roth  United States	Literature	Pulitzer Prize winner regarded as a literary giant among America's postwar generation of writers.
	Dr. William Magee & Kathleen Magee  United States	Public Service	Founders of Operation Smile, which aids children with facial deformities around the world.
2002	Julie Andrews  United Kingdom	Dramatic Arts	World-renowned performer whose stardom spans movies, theater, television, and concert hall.
	Carlos Fuentes  Mexico	Literature	Preeminent writer of fiction and political commentary, and a leading cultural force in modern Latin America.
	Lonnie Thompson & Ellen Mosley-Thompson  United States	Science & Invention	Researchers who have tracked Earth's ancient climate history and global warming.
	George Mitchell  United States	Government	Former U.S. Senate majority leader and peace mediator for Northern Ireland and the Middle East.
	Fred Rogers  United States	Mass Communications	Children's television icon; creator and host of the critically acclaimed Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
2003	Sam Donaldson  United States	Mass Communications	Veteran television journalist and former chief White House correspondent for ABC News.
	Bob Dole  United States	Government	Former U.S. Senate majority leader and influential voice of the Republican Party.
	Susan Stroman  United States	Dramatic Arts	Broadway's most celebrated director-choreographer.
	Joyce Carol Oates  United States	Literature	One of America's most significant and inventive contemporary writers.
	Dean Kamen  United States	Science & Invention	Renowned inventor of breakthrough medical and transportation devices.
2004	Christopher Reeve  United States	Public Service	Renowned actor and America's leading advocate for people with paralysis and other disabilities.
	Meryl Streep  United States	Dramatic Arts	Legendary actress and Hollywood icon, considered the greatest film star of her generation.
	Stanley Prusiner, M.D.  United States	Science & Invention	Pioneering researcher and Nobel Prize-winner who discovered the deadly protein linked to mad-cow disease.
	Isabel Allende  Chile	Literature	The most widely read and renowned Latin American woman writer in the world.
	Andrea Mitchell  United States	Mass Communications	Leading broadcast journalist and chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News.
2005	Gen. Colin L. Powell  United States	Government	Former Secretary of State and respected leader, diplomat, and soldier.
	David Mamet  United States	Dramatic Arts	Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Hollywood screenwriter, and preeminent dramatist.
	Tim Berners-Lee  United Kingdom	Mass Communications	Visionary inventor of the World Wide Web and director of the World Wide Web consortium.
	Amy Tan  United States	Literature	Best-selling novelist whose stories explore family ties, heritage, and the Asian-American experience.
	Kip Thorne  United States	Science & Invention	Foremost American researcher of black holes and gravitational waves.
2006	John Glenn  United States	Government	Former U.S. Senator, astronaut, and heroic pioneer of American space exploration.
	HM Queen Noor of Jordan  Jordan	Public Service	A leading voice for global peace-building, human rights, and conflict recovery issues.
	Mike Nichols  United States	Dramatic Arts	Preeminent and award-winning director of stage and screen.
	Rita Dove  United States	Literature	Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and two-term Poet Laureate of the United States.
	Anderson Cooper  United States	Mass Communications	Leading broadcast journalist and CNN news anchor of Anderson Cooper 360°.
2007	Sidney Poitier  United States	Dramatic Arts	Academy Award-winning actor and cinematic trailblazer.
	Aleksander Kwaśniewski  Poland	Government	Former two-term president of the Republic of Poland; cofounder of the Social Democratic Party.
	Cokie Roberts  United States	Mass Communications	Veteran broadcast journalist; best-selling author; political analyst for ABC News; and NPR senior news analyst.
	Ian McEwan  United Kingdom	Literature	Acclaimed and award-winning British novelist, short-story, and screenwriter.
2008	Glenn Close  United States	Dramatic Arts	Celebrated actress of stage, screen, and television.
	John Howard  Australia	Government	Four-term prime minister of Australia.
	Ann Curry  United States (b.  Guam)	Mass Communications	News anchor of NBC's Today; coanchor of Dateline NBC.
	James E. Hansen  United States	Science	Preeminent climate scientist; director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
2009	Buzz Aldren  United States	Science	Astronaut and lunar explorer.
	Doris Kearns Goodwin  United States	Mass Communications	Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
	Don DeLillo  United States	Literature	Author, playwright and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
	Kevin Spacey  United States	Dramatic Arts	Academy Award-winning actor and artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre Company.
2010	Annie Leibovitz  United States	Mass Communications	Legendary portrait photographer responsible for some of the most iconic images of the last four decades.
	Laura Linney  United States	Dramatic Arts	Award-winning actress of stage, film, and theatre. Best known for her roles in Love Actually and HBO miniseries "John Adams."
	Greg Mortenson  United States	Public Service	Humanitarian, writer. Co-founder of the Central Asia Institute and founder of the charity Pennies for Peace.
	Salman Rushdie  India	Literature	Booker Prize-winning novelist and essayist. Played a major role in the development of Indian English literature.
2011	Russell Banks  United States	Literature	Internationally acclaimed novelist, poet, and short story writer.
	Cherie Blair  United Kingdom	Public Service	Noted human rights lawyer and women's rights activist.
	Bill Richardson  United States	Government	Thirtieth Governor of New Mexico, former U.S. Energy Secretary, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Congressman.
	George Will  United States	Mass Communications	America's foremost political commentator and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist.
2012[3]	Wolf Blitzer  United States	Mass Communications
	Madeleine Albright  United States	Government
	Kenneth Cole  United States	Public Service
	Judith Jamison  United States	Dramatic Arts
2013[4]	Alan Alda  United States	Dramatic Arts
	David McCullough  United States	Literature
	Jane Pauley  United States	Mass Communications
	Martin Sheen  United States	Public Service
2014[5]	Bob Costas  United States	Mass Communications
	Anjelica Huston  United States	Dramatic Arts
	Mariano Rivera  Panama	Public Service
2015[6]	Jon Bon Jovi  United States	Public Service
	Edward Norton  United States	Public Service
	Jimmy Wales  United States	Mass Communications
2016[7]	Mandy Patankin  United States	Dramatic Arts
	Bob Schieffer  United States	Mass Communications
	Elizabeth Smart  United States	Public Service
2017[8]	Charles Grodin  United States	Dramatic Arts	Distinguished commentator and storyteller.
	Dr. Mae Jemison  United States	Science	Esteemed engineer, physician and NASA astronaut; the first African-American woman to travel in space.
	Marlo Thomas  United States	Public Service	Social activist and leading national advocate for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
2018[2]	Joe Biden  United States	Government	American politician and former Vice President of the United States.
	Ron Chernow  United States	Literature	Preeminent American historic biographer.
	Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  United States	Sociology	Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, distinguished filmmaker, literary scholar and cultural critic.
2019[9]	Diane Keaton  United States	Dramatic Arts	Academy Award-winning and Tony nominated actor
	Peggy Noonan  United States	Mass Communications	presidential speechwriter, historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist
	Captain Sully Sullenberger  United States	Public Service	American hero, safety expert, and author