| Common Wealth Award | |
| Awarded For: | Outstanding achievement(s) in dramatic arts, literature, science, invention, mass communications, public service, government, and sociology. |
| Presenter: | PNC Bank |
| Year: | 1979 |
The Common Wealth Awards of Distinguished Service (or Common Wealth Awards) were created under the will of the late Ralph Hayes, an influential American business executive and philanthropist. Hayes conceived the awards to reward and encourage the best of human performance worldwide. Hayes served on the board of directors of PNC Bank, Delaware's predecessor banks from 1935 to 1965. Through the Common Wealth Awards, he sought to recognize outstanding achievement in eight disciplines: dramatic arts, literature, science, invention, mass communications, public service, government and sociology. The awards also provide an incentive for people to make future contributions to the world community.
Hayes worked in the Office of the United States Secretary of War in Washington, D.C., the motion picture industry, publishing, banking, and for the Coca-Cola Company. For 35 years, he was a Coca-Cola executive; he was secretary-treasurer, vice president, and as a director of Coca-Cola International. He was on the board of directors of the Bank of Delaware (now PNC Bank) from 1943 to 1965, having previously been a Director of its predecessor, The Equitable Trust Company, from 1935 to 1943. Hayes also had a long career of public service. He was a chairman of the James Foundation, president of Community Funds, Inc., and a longtime director of the New York Community Trust. He died in 1977 at the age of 82, leaving the Common Wealth Awards as part of his charitable legacy.[1]
Each recipient of the Common Wealth Award receives a $50,000 prize. It is presented at an annual, invitation-only, black-tie dinner hosted at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware.
In their 39-year history, the Common Wealth Awards have conferred $6 million in prize money to 201 honorees of international renown. The awards are funded by the Common Wealth Trust.
Since 2000, more than sixty Delaware high school students have met and talked to the winning world leaders through the Common Wealth Award Writing Contest. Four winners of the writing contest and their parents or guardians are invited each year to the Common Wealth Awards ceremony, where the honorees are recognized for their lifetime achievement. As time allows, students are often able to talk directly with the winners.
Contest winners are publicly acknowledged at the Common Wealth Awards ceremony and receive a framed picture of themselves taken with the honorees.
| Year | Honoree | Discipline | Claim to Fame |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Laurence, Lord Olivier | Dramatic Arts | British actor and founding director of the British National Theatre. |
| Joseph Papp | Dramatic Arts | Influential American theatrical director and producer. | |
| Jay W. Forrester | Science & Invention | Prominent scientist who made outstanding contributions to digital computer technology. | |
| Charles J. Plank | Science & Invention | Chemist and inventor credited with inventing the first commercially applicable apparatus for the breaking of hydrocarbons. | |
| Edward J. Rosinski | Science & Invention | Chemical engineer and inventor credited with making significant breakthroughs in the technology of hydrocarbon conversions. | |
| Kingsley Davis | Sociology | American sociologist and demographer who coined the terms population explosion and zero population growth. | |
| Robert Merton | Sociology | Influential sociologist recognized for coining terms such as, self-fulfilling prophecy and role models. | |
| 1980 | Peter Brook | Dramatic Arts | |
| Agnes de Mille | Dramatic Arts | Famed American dancer and choreographer. | |
| Gabriel García Márquez | Literature | Nobel Prize-winning author and a pioneer of the Latin American Boom. | |
| Robert Penn Warren | Literature | American poet, novelist, and literary critic; cofounder of New Criticism. | |
| Clair McCollough | Mass Communications | Radio and television executive, as well as longtime officer of the National Association of Broadcasters | |
| Lowell Thomas | Mass Communications | American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known for publicizing the story of Lawrence of Arabia. | |
| James Hillier | Science & Invention | Physicist and inventor who assisted in the development of an early, commercially successful electron microscope for RCA. | |
| Lewis H. Sarett | Science & Invention | ||
| James Coleman | Sociology | ||
| Otis Duncan | Sociology | One of the most influential sociologists in history, instrumental in transforming mainstream American sociology. | |
| 1981 | Harold Pinter | Dramatic Arts | |
| Tennessee Williams | Dramatic Arts | Major American playwright of the twentieth century. | |
Nadine Gordimer South Africa | Literature | ||
| Milan Kundera | Literature | ||
| Walter Cronkite | Mass Communications | ||
| Julian Goodman | Mass Communications | ||
| Howard S. Becker | Sociology | ||
| Peter Blau | Sociology | ||
| 1982 | Harold Prince | Dramatic Arts | Award-winning producer and director; co-artistic director of the New Phoenix Repertory Company. |
| Wright Morris | Literature | American novelist, short-story writer, essayist, and photographer. | |
| Vincent Wasilewski | Mass Communications | President of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). | |
| Bell Laboratories | Science & Invention | Credited with the discovery of the Fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE). | |
| Charles Tilly | Sociology | ||
| 1983 | Hume Cronyn (d.) | Dramatic Arts | |
| Jessica Tandy | Dramatic Arts | ||
| Jeane J. Kirkpatrick | Government | ||
| Christopher Isherwood | Literature | ||
| César Milstein | Science & Invention | ||
| Kenneth Lane Thompson | Science & Invention | ||
| William Sewell | Sociology | ||
| 1984 | Athol Fugard South Africa | Dramatic Arts | |
| Stephen Sondheim | Dramatic Arts | Award-winning stage musical and film composer & lyricist. | |
| Eudora Welty | Literature | ||
| Robert Phelan Langlands | Science & Invention | ||
| Joseph Rubinfeld | Invention | Instrumental in licensing the original anticancer line of products for Bristol-Meyers, as well as development of amoxicillin. | |
| Matilda White Riley | Sociology | Renowned sociologist and Daniel B. Fayerweather Professor of Political Economy and Sociology Emerita. | |
| 1985 | Zelda Fichandler | Dramatic Arts | Famed cofounder and producing director of the Arena Stage in Washington. |
| Max Frisch | Literature | ||
| Candy Lightner | Public Service | The organizer and founding president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). | |
| Alain Aspect | Science & Invention | ||
| Delft Hydraulics Laboratory | Science & Invention | ||
| Peter H. Rossi | Sociology | Prominent sociologist, best known for documenting homelessness in the 1980s. | |
| 1986 | Samuel Beckett | Dramatic Arts | |
| John Ashbery | Literature | Award-winning American poet. | |
| Norman Cousins | Mass Communications | ||
| Leon H. Sullivan | Public Service | ||
| Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Science & Invention | NASA research center which specializes in building and operating uncrewed spacecraft. | |
| Kenneth H. Olsen | Science & Invention | American engineer who co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1957 with a colleague. | |
| John A. Clausen | Sociology | ||
| 1987–88 | Lloyd Richards (b.) | Dramatic Arts | |
| Andrei Voznesensky | Literature | ||
| Gordon Parks | Mass Communications | Famed American photographer, pianist, film director, and novelist. | |
| N.T. Pete Shields | Public Service | Cofounder of Handgun Control, a Washington, D.C.-based citizens' gun control lobbying organization | |
| John B. MacChesney | Science & Invention | Best known for key inventions in the commercial manufacture of optical fiber. | |
| Robin M. Williams, Jr. | Sociology | ||
| 1989 | Jennifer Tipton | Dramatic Arts | Award-winning American lighting designer. |
| George P. Shultz | Government | Former Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Treasury, and head of the Office of Management and Budget. | |
| Toni Morrison | Literature | Nobel Prize-winning author, editor, and professor. | |
| David Brinkley | Mass Communications | Emmy nominated television newscaster and host of This Week with David Brinkley from 1982–1997. | |
| Leroy E. Hood | Science & Invention | American biologist who helped to decode the human genome. | |
| Alice S. Rossi | Sociology | Cofounder of the National Organization for Women; 74th president of the American Sociological Association. | |
| 1990 | Jerome Robbins | Dramatic Arts | Academy Award-winning film director and choreographer. |
| Aharon Appelfeld (b.) | Literature | One of Israel's foremost living Hebrew-language authors. | |
| David Broder | Mass Communications | Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, talk show pundit, and university professor. | |
| Jaime Escalante | Public Service | ||
| J.C.R. Licklider | Science & Invention | Renowned for his work on the human-computer dialogue, time sharing, virtual memory, and resource sharing. | |
| Mirra Komarovsky | Sociology | ||
| 1991 | James Earl Jones | Dramatic Arts | |
| Paul A. Volcker | Government | Former chairman of the Federal Reserve. | |
| Adrienne Rich | Literature | ||
| Sebastião Salgado | Mass Communications | Respected photojournalist and Special Representative for UNICEF. | |
| Roger N. Beachy | Science & Invention | American biologist and founder of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. | |
| Nathan Keyfitz | Sociology | Responsible for important work regarding formal demography and population projections. | |
| 1992 | Arthur Miller | Dramatic Arts | |
| Warren E. Burger | Government | ||
| James A. Michener | Literature | ||
| Ted Turner | Mass Communications | American media mogul and philanthropist. | |
| Susan Solomon | Science & Invention | Demonstrated the first conclusive link between manmade CFCs and the ozone holes above Antarctica. | |
| 1993 | Julie Harris | Dramatic Arts | Three-time Emmy Award-winning and five-time Tony Award-winning actress of stage, screen, and television. |
| John Updike | Literature | Prominent American novelist, poet, short story writer, and literary critic. | |
| Jim Lehrer | Mass Communications | American journalist and anchor for The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. | |
| Jonas Salk | Public Service | World-renowned for his development of the polio vaccine. | |
| Charles H. Townes | Science & Invention | Accomplishments range from helping ease the strain of everyday life to studying the origin of the universe. | |
| 1994 | August Wilson | Dramatic Arts | Prominent African-American playwright. |
| Henry A. Kissinger | Government | Former Secretary of State and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs; founder of Kissinger Associates. | |
| Larry King | Mass Communications | Award-winning television and radio broadcaster; host of CNN's Larry King Live. | |
| Jacques-Yves Cousteau | Public Service | Explorer, ecologist, scientist, photographer, and researcher who invented SCUBA and pioneered unaided deep sea diving. | |
| Leland H. Hartwell | Science & Invention | Widely recognized pioneer in the field of yeastgenetics and cancer research. | |
| 1995 | Jane Alexander | Dramatic Arts | Award-winning actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts. |
| William Styron | Literature | Novelist who explored difficult historical and moral questions. | |
| Charles Kuralt | Mass Communications | Award-winning American journalist, best known for his long career with CBS. | |
| James & Sarah Brady | Public Service | Influential members of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. | |
| Karen Uhlenbeck | Science & Invention | Helped in the understanding of the fundamental properties of matter in the universe. | |
| 1996 | Jason Robards | Dramatic Arts | Award-winning film and television actor. |
Derek Walcott Saint Lucia | Literature | Nobel Prize-winning poet, playwright, writer, visual artist, and theatre & art critic. | |
| Ken Burns | Mass Communications | Award-winning documentary filmmaker. | |
| Eunice Kennedy Shriver | Public Service | Founder of the Special Olympics. | |
| Andrew Wiles | Science & Invention | Solved Fermat's Last Theorem, an equation that had perplexed mathematicians for centuries. | |
| 1997 | Seamus Heaney | Literature | Nobel Prize-winning poet, writer, and lecturer. |
| Michael E. DeBakey | Science & Invention | Internationally recognized pioneer in the field of cardiovascular research and surgery. | |
| Jane Goodall | Public Service | World-renowned for her 45-year study of chimpanzee social and family life. | |
| Edward Albee | Dramatic Arts | Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary American playwright. | |
| James H. Clark | Mass Communications | Prolific entrepreneur and former computer scientist; cofounder of Netscape Communications Corporation. | |
| 1998 | Christopher Plummer | Dramatic Arts | Actor of stage, screen, and television during his five-decade career. |
| Saul Bellow (b.) | Literature | Nobel Prize-winning novelist. | |
| Bill Moyers | Mass Communications | Veteran journalist who worked for both CBS and PBS during his nearly four-decade career. | |
| Betty Ford | Public Service | Founder of the Betty Ford Center, a drug and alcohol dependency treatment center located in Rancho Mirage, CA. | |
| Stephanie Kwolek | Science & Invention | Was responsible for the creation and discovery of Kevlar during her time at the DuPont Company. | |
| 1999 | Dr. Louis Miller | Science & Invention | Biologist who has made vast contributions to malaria research and other widespread tropical diseases. |
| John Irving | Literature | Bestselling American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. | |
| Robert MacNeil | Mass Communications | Former television news anchor and journalist of The MacNeil/Lehrer Report. | |
| Lawrence Eagleburger | Government | Former Secretary of State and diplomat. | |
| Julie Taymor | Dramatic Arts | American director of Broadway theatre and film. | |
| 2000 | Desmond Tutu South Africa | Public Service | Anglican archbishop, international human rights leader, and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. |
| E. L. Doctorow | Literature | Foremost American novelist acclaimed for his lyrical, breakthrough fiction. | |
| Christiane Amanpour | Mass Communications | CNN chief foreign correspondent and influential reporter of global crises. | |
| Robert Ballard | Science & Invention | Marine scientist, pioneer of deep ocean exploration, and undersea archaeologist. | |
| Mikhail Baryshnikov | Dramatic Arts | Legendary dancer and icon of classical ballet and modern dance. | |
| 2001 | Morgan Freeman | Dramatic Arts | Veteran actor acclaimed for his classic, commanding roles on stage, screen, and television. |
| J. Craig Venter | Science & Invention | Biochemist, entrepreneur, and gene pioneer who succeeded in unlocking the human genetic code. | |
| James Nachtwey | Mass Communications | Renowned photojournalist who has chronicled the human anguish of war, genocide, and famine worldwide. | |
| Philip Roth | Literature | Pulitzer Prize winner regarded as a literary giant among America's postwar generation of writers. | |
| Dr. William Magee & Kathleen Magee | Public Service | Founders of Operation Smile, which aids children with facial deformities around the world. | |
| 2002 | Julie Andrews | Dramatic Arts | World-renowned performer whose stardom spans movies, theater, television, and concert hall. |
| Carlos Fuentes | Literature | Preeminent writer of fiction and political commentary, and a leading cultural force in modern Latin America. | |
| Lonnie Thompson & Ellen Mosley-Thompson | Science & Invention | Researchers who have tracked Earth's ancient climate history and global warming. | |
| George Mitchell | Government | Former U.S. Senate majority leader and peace mediator for Northern Ireland and the Middle East. | |
| Fred Rogers | Mass Communications | Children's television icon; creator and host of the critically acclaimed Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. | |
| 2003 | Sam Donaldson | Mass Communications | Veteran television journalist and former chief White House correspondent for ABC News. |
| Bob Dole | Government | Former U.S. Senate majority leader and influential voice of the Republican Party. | |
| Susan Stroman | Dramatic Arts | Broadway's most celebrated director-choreographer. | |
| Joyce Carol Oates | Literature | One of America's most significant and inventive contemporary writers. | |
| Dean Kamen | Science & Invention | Renowned inventor of breakthrough medical and transportation devices. | |
| 2004 | Christopher Reeve | Public Service | Renowned actor and America's leading advocate for people with paralysis and other disabilities. |
| Meryl Streep | Dramatic Arts | Legendary actress and Hollywood icon, considered the greatest film star of her generation. | |
| Stanley Prusiner, M.D. | Science & Invention | Pioneering researcher and Nobel Prize-winner who discovered the deadly protein linked to mad-cow disease. | |
| Isabel Allende | Literature | The most widely read and renowned Latin American woman writer in the world. | |
| Andrea Mitchell | Mass Communications | Leading broadcast journalist and chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News. | |
| 2005 | Gen. Colin L. Powell | Government | Former Secretary of State and respected leader, diplomat, and soldier. |
| David Mamet | Dramatic Arts | Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Hollywood screenwriter, and preeminent dramatist. | |
| Tim Berners-Lee | Mass Communications | Visionary inventor of the World Wide Web and director of the World Wide Web consortium. | |
| Amy Tan | Literature | Best-selling novelist whose stories explore family ties, heritage, and the Asian-American experience. | |
| Kip Thorne | Science & Invention | Foremost American researcher of black holes and gravitational waves. | |
| 2006 | John Glenn | Government | Former U.S. Senator, astronaut, and heroic pioneer of American space exploration. |
| HM Queen Noor of Jordan | Public Service | A leading voice for global peace-building, human rights, and conflict recovery issues. | |
| Mike Nichols | Dramatic Arts | Preeminent and award-winning director of stage and screen. | |
| Rita Dove | Literature | Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and two-term Poet Laureate of the United States. | |
| Anderson Cooper | Mass Communications | Leading broadcast journalist and CNN news anchor of Anderson Cooper 360°. | |
| 2007 | Sidney Poitier | Dramatic Arts | Academy Award-winning actor and cinematic trailblazer. |
| Aleksander Kwaśniewski | Government | Former two-term president of the Republic of Poland; cofounder of the Social Democratic Party. | |
| Cokie Roberts | Mass Communications | Veteran broadcast journalist; best-selling author; political analyst for ABC News; and NPR senior news analyst. | |
| Ian McEwan | Literature | Acclaimed and award-winning British novelist, short-story, and screenwriter. | |
| 2008 | Glenn Close | Dramatic Arts | Celebrated actress of stage, screen, and television. |
| John Howard | Government | Four-term prime minister of Australia. | |
| Ann Curry (b.) | Mass Communications | News anchor of NBC's Today; coanchor of Dateline NBC. | |
| James E. Hansen | Science | Preeminent climate scientist; director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. | |
| 2009 | Buzz Aldren | Science | Astronaut and lunar explorer. |
| Doris Kearns Goodwin | Mass Communications | Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. | |
| Don DeLillo | Literature | Author, playwright and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. | |
| Kevin Spacey | Dramatic Arts | Academy Award-winning actor and artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre Company. | |
| 2010 | Annie Leibovitz | Mass Communications | Legendary portrait photographer responsible for some of the most iconic images of the last four decades. |
| Laura Linney | Dramatic Arts | Award-winning actress of stage, film, and theatre. Best known for her roles in Love Actually and HBO miniseries "John Adams." | |
| Greg Mortenson | Public Service | Humanitarian, writer. Co-founder of the Central Asia Institute and founder of the charity Pennies for Peace. | |
| Salman Rushdie | Literature | Booker Prize-winning novelist and essayist. Played a major role in the development of Indian English literature. | |
| 2011 | Russell Banks | Literature | Internationally acclaimed novelist, poet, and short story writer. |
| Cherie Blair | Public Service | Noted human rights lawyer and women's rights activist. | |
| Bill Richardson | Government | Thirtieth Governor of New Mexico, former U.S. Energy Secretary, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Congressman. | |
| George Will | Mass Communications | America's foremost political commentator and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist. | |
| 2012[2] | Wolf Blitzer | Mass Communications | |
| Madeleine Albright | Government | ||
| Kenneth Cole | Public Service | ||
| Judith Jamison | Dramatic Arts | ||
| 2013[3] | Alan Alda | Dramatic Arts | |
| David McCullough | Literature | ||
| Jane Pauley | Mass Communications | ||
| Martin Sheen | Public Service | ||
| 2014[4] | Bob Costas | Mass Communications | |
| Anjelica Huston | Dramatic Arts | ||
Mariano Rivera Panama | Public Service | ||
| 2015[5] | Jon Bon Jovi | Public Service | |
| Edward Norton | Public Service | ||
| Jimmy Wales | Mass Communications | ||
| 2016[6] | Mandy Patankin | Dramatic Arts | |
| Bob Schieffer | Mass Communications | ||
| Elizabeth Smart | Public Service | ||
| 2017[7] | Charles Grodin | Dramatic Arts | Distinguished commentator and storyteller. |
| Dr. Mae Jemison | Science | Esteemed engineer, physician and NASA astronaut; the first African-American woman to travel in space. | |
| Marlo Thomas | Public Service | Social activist and leading national advocate for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. | |
| 2018[8] | Joe Biden | Government | American politician and former Vice President of the United States. |
| Ron Chernow | Literature | Preeminent American historic biographer. | |
| Henry Louis Gates, Jr. | Sociology | Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, distinguished filmmaker, literary scholar and cultural critic. | |
| 2019[9] | Diane Keaton | Dramatic Arts | Academy Award-winning and Tony nominated actor |
| Peggy Noonan | Mass Communications | presidential speechwriter, historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist | |
| Captain Sully Sullenberger | Public Service | American hero, safety expert, and author |