For a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author, three thousand dollars ($3,000).

Awarded to Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life by Joan D. Hedrick (Oxford University Press)

Joan Hedrick receiving the Pulitzer Prize from Columbia President George Rupp.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "Hugo Black: A Biography" by Roger K. Newman (Pantheon), and "Saint-Exupery: A Biography" by Stacy Schiff (Alfred A. Knopf).