Awards

The Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence

Established in 1985, this medal is awarded to a writer who epitomizes the standards of excellence set by the Society’s founders.

The Washington Irving Medal for Literary excellence has been awarded to the following distinguished writers:

1985 Louis Auchincloss

1986 Tom Wolfe

1988 William Manchester

1989 Peter Mathiessen

1990 Simon Schama

1991 Letitia Baldridge

1992 James B. Stewart

1993 David McCullough

1994 A. R. Gurney

1995 David Hackett Fischer

1996 Robert D. Richardson

1999 Richard Brookhiser

2000 Edwin G. Burrows & Mike Wallace

2001 Edward Ladd Widmer

2002 William Zinsser

2003 Christopher Buckley

2004 Charles Gehring & Russell Shorto

2005 Ron Chernow

2007 Billy Collins

2009 Ira Stoll

2010 Brian Jay Jones

2011 Edward Rutherfurd

2012 Sally Bedell Smith

2013 Barnet Schecter

2015 Missy Wolfe

2016 Joe Queenan

2017 John Guare

2018 Nathaniel Philbrick

2019 Steven Ujifusa

2021 Colin Powell

2022 Julian Fellowes

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