Journalism
- Public Service: Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, AR
- Local Reporting; Edition Time: Staff of FargoForum
- Local Reporting; No Edition Time: George Beveridge of The Evening Star, Washington, DC
- National Reporting: Clark Mollenhoff of Des Moines Register and Tribune
- National Reporting: Relman Morin of Associated Press
- International Reporting: Staff of The New York Times
- Editorial Writing: Harry S. Ashmore of Arkansas Gazette,Little Rock, AR
- Editorial Cartooning: Bruce M. Shanks of Buffalo Evening News
- Photography: William C. Beall of Washington Daily News(DC)
Letters, Drama, and Music
- Fiction: A Death In The Family by the late James Agee (a posthumous publication)
- Drama: Look Homeward, Angel by Ketti Frings
- History: Banks and Politics in America by Bray Hammond
- Biography or Autobiography: George Washington, Volumes I-VI by Douglas Southall Freeman
- Poetry: Promises: Poems 1954-1956 by Robert Penn Warren
- Music: Vanessa by Samuel Barber
Special Awards and Citations, Journalism
- Walter Lippman, nationally syndicated columnist of The New York Herald Tribune
