Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service

American achievement award

Common Wealth Award

Awarded for| Outstanding achievement(s) in dramatic arts, literature, science, invention, mass communications, public service, government, and sociology.
Country|  United States
Presented by| PNC Bank
First awarded| 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.

## Ralph Hayes

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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]

## Prize and ceremony

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Each recipient of the Common Wealth Award receives a $50,000 prize.[2] 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.[2] The awards are funded by the Common Wealth Trust.

## Common Wealth Award Writing Contest

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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.[2] 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.

## List of honorees

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Year  | Honoree  | Discipline  | Claim to Fame

|
|
|

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

## See also

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* List of general science and technology awards

## References

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1. ^ "The Common Wealth Award for Science and Invention". Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
2. ^ a b c d Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Ron Chernow, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. To Receive 39th Annual Common Wealth Awards
3. ^ Albright, Blitzer, Cole, Jamison to Receive 33rd Annual Common Wealth Awards
4. ^ Alan Alda Receives 2013 Common Wealth Award for Dramatic Arts
5. ^ Bob Costas, Anjelica Huston And Mariano Rivera Receive 35th Annual Common Wealth Awards
6. ^ Three notables to receive Common Wealth Awards
7. ^ Three achievers to receive Common Wealth awards
8. ^ Three achievers to receive Common Wealth Awards
9. ^ Honor Diane Keaton, Peggy Noonan and Captain Sully Sullenberger