The National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities, broadened citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities. The award, given by the National Endowment for the Humanities, was established in 1988 as the Charles Frankel Prize. In 1997 it was renamed the National Humanities Medal.

Notable winners

• Marva Collins (2004)
• Gertrude Himmelfarb (2004)
• Hilton Kramer (2004)
• Madeleine L'Engle (2004)
• Harvey Mansfield (2004)
• John Searle (2004)
• Shelby Steele (2004)
• Joseph Epstein (2003)
• John Updike (2003)
• Hal Holbrook (2003)
• Jean Fritz (2003)
• Elizabeth Fox-Genovese (2003)
• Midge Decter (2003)
• Joan Ganz Cooney (2003)
• Robert Ballard (2003)
• Thomas Sowell (2002)
• Eileen Jackson Southern (2001)
• Toni Morrison (2000)
• David C. Driskell (2000)
• Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (2000)
• Jim Lehrer (1999)
• Steven Spielberg (1999)
• Taylor Branch (1999)
• August Wilson (1999)
• Stephen E. Ambrose (1998)
• Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (1998)
• Garry Wills (1998)
• Richard Franke (1997)
• Luis Leal (1997)
• Martin Marty (1997)
• Maxine Hong Kingston (1997)
• Studs Terkel (1997)

As Charles Frankel Prize

• Rita Dove (1996)
• Bill Moyers (1996)
• Doris Kearns Goodwin (1996)
• David McCullough (1995)
• Charles Kuralt (1995)
• Bernice Johnson Reagon (1995)
• Dorothy Porter Wesley (1994)
• Sharon Percy Rockefeller (1994)
• Hanna Gray (1993)
• Ricardo E. Alegría (1993)
• Laurel T. Ulrich (1993)
• John Hope Franklin (1993)
• Allan Bloom (1992)
• Eudora Welty (1992)
• Shelby Foote (1992)
• Ken Burns (1991)
• John Tchen (1991)
• Mortimer Adler (1990)
• Henry Hampton (1990)
• David Van Tassel (1990)
• Daniel Boorstin (1989)
• Américo Paredes (1989)