1950: Nelson Algren: The Man with the Golden Arm
1951: William Faulkner: The Collected Stories of William Faulkner
1952: James Jones: From Here to Eternity
1953: Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man
1954: Saul Bellow: The Adventures of Augie March
1955: William Faulkner: A Fable
1956: John O'Hara: Ten North Frederick
1957: Wright Morris: The Field of Vision
1958: John Cheever: The Wapshot Chronicle
1959: Bernard Malamud: The Magic Barrel
1960: Philip Roth: Goodbye, Columbus
1961: Conrad Richter: The Waters of Kronos
1962: Walker Percy: The Moviegoer
1963: J. F. Powers: Morte D'Urban
1964: John Updike: The Centaur
1965: Saul Bellow: Herzog
1966: Katherine Anne Porter: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
1967: Bernard Malamud: The Fixer
1968: Thornton Wilder: The Eighth Day
1969: Jerzy Kosinski: Steps
1970: Joyce Carol Oates: Them
1971: Saul Bellow: Mr. Sammler's Planet
1972: Flannery O'Connor: The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor
1973: John Barth: Augustus
1973: John Williams: Chimera
1974: Thomas Pynchon: Gravity's Rainbow
1974: Isaac Bashevis Singer: A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories
1975: Robert Stone: Dog Soldiers
1975: Thomas Williams: The Hair of Harold Roux

1976: William Gaddis: Jr.
1977: Wallace Stegner: The Spectator Bird
1978: Mary Lee Settle: Blood Tie
1979: Tim O'Brien: Going After Cacciato
1980: John Irving: The World According to Garp
1980: William Styron: Sophie's Choice
1981: John Cheever: The Stories of John Cheever
1981: Wright Morris: Plains Song
1982: William Maxwell: So Long, See You Tomorrow
1982: John Updike: Rabbit Is Rich
1983: Alice Walker: The Color Purple
1983: Eudora Welty: Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
1984: Ellen Gilchrist: Victory over Japan
1985: Don DeLillo: White Noise
1986: Edgar Laurence Doctorow: World's Fair
1987: Larry Heinemann: Paco's Story
1988: Pete Dexter: Paris Trout
1989: John Casey: Spartina
1990: Charles Johnson: Middle Passage
1991: Norman Rush: Mating
1992: Cormac McCarthy: All the Pretty Horses
1993: E. Annie Proulx: The Shipping News
1994: William Gaddis: A Frolic of His Own
1995: Philip Roth: Sabbath's Theater
1996: Andrea Barrett: Ship Fever and Other Stories
1997: Charles Frazier: Cold Mountain
1998: Alice McDermott: Charming Billy
1999: Ha Jin: Waiting
2000: Susan Sontag: In America
2001: Jonathan Franzen: The Corrections
2002: Julia Glass: Three Junes

1981: Walter Abish: How German Is It?
1982: David Bradley: The Chaneysville Incident
1983: Toby Olson: Seaview
1984: John Edgar Wideman: Sent for You Yesterday
1985: Tobias Wolff: The Barracks Thief
1986: Peter Taylor: The Old Forest
1987: Richard Wiley: Soldiers in Hiding
1988: T. Coraghessan Boyle: World’s End
1989: James Salter: Dusk
1990: Edgar Laurence Doctorow: Billy Bathgate
1991: John Edgar Wideman: Philadelphia Fire

1992: Don DeLillo: Mao II.
1993: E. Annie Proulx: Postcards
1994: Philip Roth: Operation Shylock
1995: David Guterson: Snow Falling on Cedars
1996: Richard Ford: Independence Day
1997: Gina Berriault: Women in Their Beds
1998: Rafi Zabor: The Bear Comes Home
1999: Michael Cunningham: The Hours
2000: Ha Jin: Waiting
2001: Philip Roth: The Human Stain
2002: Ann Patchett: Bel Canto
2003: Sabina Murray: The Caprices

1969: P. H. Newby: Something to Answer For
1970: Bernice Rubens: The Elected Member
1971: Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul: In a Free State
1972: John Berger: G.
1973: J. G. Farrell: The Siege of Krishnapur
1974: Nadine Gordimer: The Conservationist
1975: Ruth Prawar Jhabvala: Heat and Dust
1976: David Storey: Saville
1977: Paul Scott: Staying On
1978: Iris Murdoch: The Sea
1979: Penelope Fitzgerald: Offshore
1980: William Golding: Rites of Passage
1981: Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children
1982: Thomas Keneally: Schindler's List
1983: John M. Coetzee: Life and Times of Michael K.
1984: Anita Brookner: Hotel du Lac
1985: Keri Hulme: The Bone People 

1986: Kingsley Amis: The Old Devils
1987: Penelope Lively: Moon Tiger
1988: Peter Carey: Oscar and Lucinda
1989: Kazuo Ishiguro: The Remains of the Day
1990: A. S. Byatt: Possession
1991: Ben Okri: The Famished Road
1992: Michael Ondaatje: The English Patient
1993: Roddy Doyle: Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha
1994: James Kelman: How Late It Was, How Late
1995: Pat Barker: The Ghost Road
1996: Graham Swift: Last Orders
1997: Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things
1998: Ian McEwan: Amsterdam
1999: John M. Coetzee: Disgrace
2000: Margaret Atwood: The Blind Assassin
2001: Peter Carey: True History of the Kelly gang
2002: Yann Martel: Life of Pi