Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service

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

Demonstrating unusual academic ability in his youth, Ralph Hayes developed into a gifted executive whose career would take him to the Office of the United States Secretary of War in Washington, D.C., into the motion picture industry, publishing and banking and to the top echelons of the Coca-Cola Company. For 35 years, he was a Coca-Cola executive, serving as secretary-treasurer, vice president, and as a director of Coca-Cola International. He served on the board of directors of the Bank of Delaware (now PNC Bank) from 1943 to 1965, having previously served as a Director of its predecessor, The Equitable Trust Company, from 1935 to 1943. Hayes also had a long and distinguished 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. Service to his fellow man was always uppermost in Ralph Hayes' mind. He died in 1977 at the age of 82, leaving the Common Wealth Awards as but one part of his charitable legacy.

Prize and Ceremony

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 29-year history, the Common Wealth Awards have conferred $4.4 million in prize money to 165 honorees of international renown. The awards are funded by the Common Wealth Trust.

Common Wealth Award Writing Contest

Since 2000, more than a dozen lucky 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 guardian 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. This year's winners were Cirrus Foroughi of The Tatnall School, Meagan Santangelo of Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Anne Solomon of Padua Academy, and Rebecca Spiegel of Mount Pleasant High School.

List of Honorees

Year

Honoree

Discipline

Claim to Fame

1979

Lord Laurence 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 the creation 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

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 Wasileski
unknown

Mass Communications

Bell Laboratories

Science & Invention

Credited with the discovery of the Fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE).

Charles Tilly

Sociology

1983

Hume Cronyn
/

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

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 unmanned spacecraft.

Kenneth H. Olsen

Science & Invention

American engineer who co-founded Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1957 with a colleague.

John A. Clausen

Sociology

1987-1988

Lloyd Richards
(born )

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 of Women; 74th president of the American Sociological Association.

1990

Jerome Robbins

Dramatic Arts

Academy Award-winning film director and choreographer.

Aharon Appelfeld
(born )

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

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
(born )

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 [...] 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

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, [...], 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 screen writer.

2008

Glenn Close

Dramatic Arts

Celebrated actress of stage, screen, and television.

John Howard

Government

Four-term prime minister of Australia.

Ann Curry
(born )

Mass Communications

News anchor of NBC's Today; coanchor of Dateline NBC.

James 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

Kevin Spacey

Dramatic Arts

Academy Award-winning actor and artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre Company.