The PEN/Faulkner Award - 2003-1981
When William Faulkner won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950, he gave a speech memorable for its insistence on the survival of all that is noble in the human spirit, especially the talent and inspiration of the writer. Then he gave away the prize money to establish a fund to support and encourage new fiction writers.

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is the successor to William Faulkner's generosity. It is an award designed to be independent of the demands of the publishing industry, free from all constraints of sales and marketing, free to flow from the judgment of a writer's peers.

2003- The Caprices Sabina Murray
2002 - Bel Canto Ann Patchett
2001 - The Human Stain Philip Roth
2000 - Waiting Ha Jin
1999 - The Hours Michael Cunningham
1998 - The Bear Comes Home Rafi Zabor
1997 - Women in Their Beds Gina Berriault
1996 - Independence Day Richard Ford
1995 - Snow Falling on CedarsDavid Guterson
1994 - Operation Shylock Philip Roth
1993 - Postcards E. Annie Proulx
1992 - Mao II Don DeLillo
1991 - Philadelphia Fire John Edgar Wideman
1990 - Billy Bathgate E.L. Doctorow
1989 - Dusk James Salter
1988 - World's End T. Coraghessan Boyle
1987 - Soldiers in Hiding Richard Wiley
1986 - The Old Forest... Peter Taylor
1985 - The Barracks Thief Tobias Wolff
1984 - Sent For You Yesterday John Edgar Wideman
1983 - Seaview Toby Olson
1982 - The Chaneysville Incident David Bradley
1981 - How German Is It? Walter Abish