Origin of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

When you look at the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction's origins, you'll find a surprisingly rocky start. The prize launched in 1917, but the board withheld the award entirely because jurors felt no submitted novel deserved it. The first winner didn't come until 1918, when Ernest Poole won for His Family. Early criteria even required "wholesome American life," and the rules kept changing for decades. There's much more to this fascinating story ahead.

Key Takeaways

• The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction was not awarded in its first year (1917) because jurors found no submission clearly superior to unpublished works.
• Fiction was one of four original Pulitzer categories established through Joseph Pulitzer's 1904 will, which allocated funds for prizes and scholarships.
• Early criteria required novels to depict "wholesome American life," a conservative standard that prevented awards in certain years, including 1920.
• The category was renamed from "Novel" to "Fiction" in 1948, allowing short story collections and novellas to qualify for the prize.
• Booth Tarkington, William Faulkner, John Updike, and Colson Whitehead are the only four authors to win the Fiction prize twice.

Why Was the First Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Delayed?

When the Pulitzer Prizes launched in 1917, fiction wasn't among the four categories recognized that year. Low submissions played a major role — only six novels were submitted, and one failed immediately because it was a manuscript rather than a published book. Of the remaining five, jurors found only one worthy of consideration, yet even that book didn't clearly outshine several novels never submitted at all.

Jury caution drove the final decision. Rather than award a prize to a book that didn't meet their high standards, jurors unanimously recommended withholding it entirely. The Advisory Board and Columbia trustees fully accepted that recommendation. You can see their priority clearly: protecting the prize's long-term reputation mattered more than simply filling the category. Fiction finally launched in 1918 with nine total prizes awarded. The prizes themselves were made possible by Joseph Pulitzer's 1904 will, which allocated $250,000 to establish both the Pulitzer Prizes and scholarships. This precedent of withholding a prize when nominees fall short resurfaced in 2012, when the Pulitzer Board declined to award a fiction prize for the first time in 35 years, sparking significant controversy across the publishing industry. In the early years of the fiction prize, the selection criteria required works to depict wholesome American life, emphasizing moral and social standards that jurors and trustees interpreted with considerable conservatism.

What Won the First Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1918?

The 1918 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction went to Ernest Poole for His Family, a novel following aging New York patriarch Roger Gale through his relationships with his adult daughters. Published in 1917, the book explores generational conflict and the tension between tradition and modernity in early 20th-century urban life.

You might be surprised to learn that His Family is largely forgotten today despite its historic win. Ernest Poole was a journalist and novelist known for tackling social issues, and this book earned him the inaugural Fiction prize, then called the Novel category. Columbia University awarded the $1,000 prize, setting a precedent for annual recognition of American literature. The prize was established to recognize work that captures the American experience, reflecting the core vision Joseph Pulitzer outlined in his will.

Booth Tarkington followed with the 1919 win. He would go on to win the prize a second time, making him one of four authors to win the Fiction prize twice, alongside William Faulkner, John Updike, and Colson Whitehead. The prize itself was made possible by Joseph Pulitzer's bequest of $500,000 to Columbia University, designated for the encouragement of American literature and education.

Why Did the Pulitzer Board Rewrite Its Own Original Criteria?

Few prizes have rewritten their own rules as visibly as the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The board's criteria evolution stemmed from real conflicts between rigid standards and worthy books. In 1920, the "wholesome" standard blocked Java Head, leaving no prize awarded. By 1927, the board replaced "wholesome" with "whole" to match Pulitzer's actual will.

Then Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey forced another rethink. Set in Peru, it conflicted with American-life requirements, yet the board awarded it anyway. That contradiction demanded a 1929 rewrite making American settings preferential rather than mandatory.

Board authority, granted directly through Pulitzer's will, allowed these adjustments. By 1936 and 1948, the criteria shifted further toward "distinguished" fiction, ultimately expanding eligibility beyond novels to short stories and novellas. The 1948 wording broadening proved immediately consequential, as it allowed Tales of the South Pacific, a short story collection, to qualify and ultimately win the prize that year.

Throughout these revisions, the phrase "preferably dealing with American life" endured as a consistent qualitative preference, surviving multiple rewrites and remaining embedded in the criteria as recently as 2012. Much like the compilers of the First Folio's classification system, the Pulitzer board demonstrated that preserving and organizing literature sometimes requires adapting the very frameworks used to define it.

How Did the Pulitzer Fiction Criteria Change Between 1929 and 1948?

Between 1929 and 1948, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction's criteria underwent four distinct revisions that progressively stripped away prescriptive moral language and broadened eligibility. You can trace this language evolution clearly: 1929 replaced moralistic standards with cultural representation, 1931 simplified criteria to prioritize American authorship over subject matter, and 1936 swapped "best" for "distinguished," reducing specificity further.

The most significant eligibility expansion came in 1947, when "fiction in book form" replaced "novel," authorizing short story collections and novellas as qualifying submissions. By 1948, the category officially renamed itself "Pulitzer Prize for Fiction," cementing criteria that remained stable for decades. This change allowed James Michener's Tales of the South Pacific to win, as it was an episodic collection of stories rather than a traditional novel. Each revision moved the prize away from rigid cultural gatekeeping toward a framework that better reflected America's evolving literary landscape.

How Did Michener's Win Force the Pulitzer to Include Short Stories?

Yet the 1948 jury recommended it anyway, making Michener's eligibility a pressing administrative question.

The Pulitzer board responded with a deliberate Rule Revision, renaming the category from "Novel" to "Fiction." This change allowed short story collections to compete alongside traditional novels. The revised title took effect that same year and remains unchanged today, permanently expanding what distinguished American fiction can look like on literature's most prestigious stage. Michener, who went on to become one of the best-selling authors globally, ultimately published 35 books printed in 16 languages throughout his prolific career. His debut work, Tales of the South Pacific, was drawn from his wartime experiences and written in a Quonset hut on Espiritu Santo Island, often at four in the morning.