The national prize for popular song, eventually named the Gershwin Prize, was created by Peter Kaminsky, Bob Kaminsky, Cappy McGarr, Mark Krantz, and Dalton Delan, subsequent to their creation of the national humor award, the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize. The project was presented to the Librarian, James Billington in 2003. The executive producers then secured a partnership with WETA, PBS, and CPB.