Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

As defined in the original Plan of Award, the prize was given "Annually, for the American novel published during the year which shall best present the wholesome atmosphere of American life, and the highest standard of American manners and manhood," although there was some struggle over whether the word wholesome should be used instead of whole, the word Pulitzer had written in his will. In 1927, the advisory board quietly instituted Pulitzer's word choice, replacing wholesome with whole.

With 1929 came the first of several much more substantive changes. The board changed the wording to "preferably one which shall best present the whole atmosphere of American life" and deleted the insistence that the novel portray "the highest standard of American manners and manhood". In 1936, emphasis was changed again, with the award going to "a distinguished novel published during the year by an American author, preferably dealing with American life". In 1948, the advisory board widened the scope of the award with the wording "For distinguished fiction published in book form during the year by an American author, preferably dealing with American life." This change allowed the prize to go to a collection of short stories for the first time, James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific.

In 31 years under the "Novel" name, the prize was awarded 27 times; in its first 76 years to 2023 under the "Fiction" name, 69 times. There have been 11 years during which no title received the award. It was shared by two authors for the first time in 2023. Since this category's inception in 1918, 31 women have won the prize. Four authors have won two prizes each in the Fiction category: Booth Tarkington, William Faulkner, John Updike, and Colson Whitehead.

Because the award is for books published in the preceding calendar year, the "Year" column links to the preceding year in literature.

1910s to 1970s

1980s to 2020s

Entries from this point on include the finalists listed for each year.

Four writers to date have won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction multiple times, one nominally in the novel category and two in the general fiction category. Ernest Hemingway was selected by the 1941 and 1953 juries, but the former was overturned with no award given that year.

• Booth Tarkington, 1919, 1922
• William Faulkner, 1955, 1963 (awarded posthumously)
• John Updike, 1982, 1991
• Colson Whitehead, 2017, 2020

4 Nominations

• Joyce Carol Oates
• Philip Roth

3 Nominations

• Alice McDermott
• Anne Tyler
• Colson Whitehead

2 Nominations

• Russell Banks
• Raymond Carver
• Don DeLillo
• Hernan Diaz
• E. L. Doctorow
• Louise Erdrich
• Richard Ford
• Adam Haslett
• Oscar Hijuelos
• Ha Jin
• Denis Johnson
• Barbara Kingsolver
• Richard Powers
• Annie Proulx
• Marilynne Robinson
• Robert Stone
• John Updike

• Stuckey, W. J. (1981). The Pulitzer Prize Novels: A Critical Backward Look. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0806106885.

• Official website for Pulitzer Prize: for the Novel and for Fiction
• A collection of the public domain winners as eBooks at Standard Ebooks
• The Pulitzer Prize Thumbnails Project
• Michael's Cunningham's "Letter from the Pulitzer Fiction Jury: What Really Happened This Year," The New Yorker — Part One (July 9, 2012) and Part Two (July 10, 2012)