Journalism Awards
- Public Service: Nashville Tennessean
- Local Reporting, Edition Time: Don Murray of The Boston Traveler
- Local Reporting, No Edition Time: Nat Caldwell and Jerry Mitchell of Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- National Reporting: Clark Mollenhoff of Des Moines Register and Tribune
- International Reporting: Hal Hendrix of International News Service
Letters and Drama Awards
- Fiction: _A Death in the Family_ by James Agee. Published posthumously; Completed by the author's friends.
- Drama: _Look Homeward, Angel_ by Ketti Frings based on Thomas Wolfe's novel with similar name which also inspired the play
- History: _George Kennan in Moscow_ by George Kennan
- Biography: _John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy_ by Samuel Flagg Bemis
- Poetry: _Promises: Poems_, 1954 -1956 by Robert Penn Warren
- Music: Scott Huston for Symphony no. 3