| 1982: |
Yehudi Menuin and Jule Styne |
| 1983: |
Van Cliburn and Benny Goodman |
| 1984: |
Virgil Thomson and Lionel Hampton |
| 1985: |
George Wein (Kool Jazz Festival) and Otto Luening |
| 1986: |
Morton Gould and Dizzy Gillespie |
| 1987: |
Odetta and Carnegie Hall (Isaac Stern) |
| 1988: |
Betty Allen and Dave Brubeck |
| 1989: |
William Schuman and Blue Note Records (Bruce Lundvall, President) |
| 1990: |
Rise Stevens and Billy Taylor |
| 1991: |
Marian Anderson and Peter Schickele |
| 1992: |
Elliott Carter and Max Roach |
| 1993: |
Lena Horne and Roberta Peters |
| 1994: |
Richard Riley and Jim Chapin |
| 1995: |
Dorothy DeLay and Lee Eliot Berk |
| 1996: |
Betty Carter, Bob McGrath and Shari Lewis |
| 1997: |
Phil Ramone, The Oak Ridge Boys |
| 1998: |
The Marsalis Family, John Sykes, Texaco, Inc. (Corporate Award) |
| 1999: |
Roy Clark and Clark Terry, American Express (Corporate Award) |
| 2000: |
Schuyler Chapin, Roberta Guaspari, And Leonard Slatkin |
| 2001: |
John Corigliano, Michael Kamen, and Marian McPartland |
| 2002: |
Margaret Whiting, Dawn Upshaw; United Service Organizations (USO) |
| 2003: |
Richie Havens, William Warfield, The Waverly Consort |
| 2004: |
Hal David, Metlife Foundation |
| 2005: |
Steven Sondheim, Sesame Workshop, Congressman John Conyers Jr., Senator Orrin Hatch |
| 2006: |
Richard Adler,
Barbara Cook,
Ervin M. Drake,
Henry Juszkiewicz |
| 2007: |
Clive Davis,
Sheldon Harnick,
VH1 Save the Music Foundation |
