title: 1979 Pulitzer Prize
text: # 1979 Pulitzer Prize
  
  The following are the Pulitzer Prizes for 1979.
  
  ## Journalism awards
  
  * Public Service:
     * The Point Reyes Light, a California weekly. For its investigation of Synanon, (written by Dr. Richard Ofshe).
  * Local General or Spot News Reporting:
     * The San Diego Evening Tribune, for its coverage of the collision of a Pacific Southwest air liner with a small plane over its city.
  * Local Investigative Specialized Reporting:
     * Gilbert M. Gaul and Elliot G. Jaspin of the Pottsville Republican (Pennsylvania), for stories on the destruction of the Blue Coal Company by men with ties to organized crime.
  * National Reporting:
     * James Risser of the Des Moines Register, for a series on farming damage to the environment.
  * International Reporting:
     * Richard Ben Cramer of The Philadelphia Inquirer, for reports from the Middle East.
  * Feature Writing:
     * Jon D. Franklin, science writer of The Baltimore Evening Sun, for an account of brain surgery.
  * Commentary:
     * Russell Baker of The New York Times.
  * Criticism:
     * Paul Gapp, architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune.
  * Editorial Writing:
     * Edwin M. Yoder Jr. of the Washington Star.
  * Editorial Cartooning:
     * Herbert Lawrence Block (Herblock) of The Washington Post, for the body of his work.
  * Spot News Photography:
     * Thomas J. Kelly III of the Pottstown Mercury (Pennsylvania), for a series called Tragedy on Sanatoga Road.
  * Feature Photography:
     * Staff Photographers of the Boston Herald American, for photographic coverage of the blizzard of 1978.
  
  ## Letters, Drama and Music Awards
  
  * Fiction:
     * The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever (Alfred A. Knopf)
  * Drama:
     * Buried Child by Sam Shepard (Urizen)
  * History:
     * The Dred Scott Case by Don E. Fehrenbacher (Oxford University Press)
  * Biography or Autobiography:
     * Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews by Leonard Baker (Macmillan Publishers (United States))
  * Poetry:
     * Now and Then by Robert Penn Warren (Random House)
  * General Non-Fiction:
     * On Human Nature by Edward O. Wilson (Harvard University Press)
  * Music:
     * Aftertones of Infinity by Joseph Schwantner (C. F. Peters) first performed by the American Composers Orchestra on January 29, 1979, in Alice Tully Hall New York City.
  