Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album

The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:

*In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word
*From 1960 to 1961 it was awarded as Best Performance - Documentary or Spoken Word (other than comedy)
*From 1962 to 1963 it was awarded as Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording (other than comedy)
*From 1964 to 1965 it was awarded as Best Documentary, Spoken Word or Drama Recording (other than comedy)
*In 1966 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Drama Recording
*From 1967 to 1968 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording
*From 1969 to 1979 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word Recording
*From 1980 to 1983 it returned to the title of Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording
*From 1984 to 1991 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording
*From 1992 to 1997 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album
*Since it has been awarded as Best Spoken Word Album

Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for a recording released in the previous year.

2000s

*Grammy Awards of 2008
**Barack Obama for ""
*Grammy Awards of 2007
**Jimmy Carter for "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis"; and
**Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee for "With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together" (Tie)
*Grammy Awards of 2006
**Barack Obama for "Dreams from My Father"
*Grammy Awards of 2005
**Bill Clinton for "My Life"
*Grammy Awards of 2004
**Paul Ruben (producer) & Al Franken for ""
*Grammy Awards of 2003
**Charles B. Potter (producer) & Maya Angelou for "A Song Flung Up to Heaven"
*Grammy Awards of 2002
**Jeffrey S. Thomas, Steven Strassman (engineers) & Elisa Shokoff (producer) & Quincy Jones for "Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones"
*Grammy Awards of 2001
**Rick Harris, John Runnette (producers) & Sidney Poitier for "The Measure of a Man"
*Grammy Awards of 2000
**LeVar Burton for "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr."

1990s

*Grammy Awards of 1999
**Christopher Reeve for "Still Me"
*Grammy Awards of 1998
**Charles Kuralt for "Charles Kuralt's Spring"
*Grammy Awards of 1997
**Hillary Rodham Clinton for "It Takes a Village"
*Grammy Awards of 1996
**Maya Angelou for "Phenomenal Woman"
*Grammy Awards of 1995
**Henry Rollins for "Get in the Van"
*Grammy Awards of 1994
**Maya Angelou for "On the Pulse of Morning"
*Grammy Awards of 1993
**Earvin "Magic" Johnson & Robert O'Keefe for "What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS"
*Grammy Awards of 1992
**Ken Burns for "The Civil War"
*Grammy Awards of 1991
**George Burns for "Gracie - A Love Story"
*Grammy Awards of 1990
**Gilda Radner for "It's Always Something"

1980s

*Grammy Awards of 1989
**Jesse Jackson for "Speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson"
*Grammy Awards of 1988
**Garrison Keillor for "Lake Wobegon Days"
*Grammy Awards of 1987
**Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chips Moman, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins & Sam Phillips for "Interviews From the Class of '55 Recording Sessions"
*Grammy Awards of 1986
**Mike Berniker (producer) & the original Broadway cast for "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"
*Grammy Awards of 1985
**Ben Kingsley for "The Words of Gandhi"
*Grammy Awards of 1984
**William Warfield for "Copland: A Lincoln Portrait"
*Grammy Awards of 1983
**Tom Voegeli (producer) for "Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Movie on Record" performed by various artists
*Grammy Awards of 1982
**Orson Welles for "Donovan's Brain"
*Grammy Awards of 1981
**Pat Carroll for "Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein"
*Grammy Awards of 1980
**John Gielgud for "Ages of Man - Readings From Shakespeare"

1970s

*Grammy Awards of 1979
**Orson Welles for "Citizen Kane"
*Grammy Awards of 1978
**Kenny Leckie for "Foxbar Marathons"
*Grammy Awards of 1977
**Henry Fonda, Helen Hayes, James Earl Jones & Orson Welles for "Great American Documents"
*Grammy Awards of 1976
**James Whitmore for "Give 'Em Hell Harry"
*Grammy Awards of 1975
**Peter Cook & Dudley Moore for "Good Evening"
*Grammy Awards of 1974
**Richard Harris for "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"
*Grammy Awards of 1973
**Bruce Botnick (producer) for "Lenny" performed by the original cast
*Grammy Awards of 1972
**Les Crane for "Desiderata"
*Grammy Awards of 1971
**Martin Luther King, Jr. for "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam"
*Grammy Awards of 1970
**Art Linkletter & Diane Linkletter for "We Love You Call Collect"

1960s

*Grammy Awards of 1969
**Rod McKuen for "Lonesome Cities"
*Grammy Awards of 1968
**Everett Dirksen for "Gallant Men"
*Grammy Awards of 1967
**Edward R. Murrow for "Edward R. Murrow - A Reporter Remembers, Vol. I The War Years"
*Grammy Awards of 1966
**Goddard Lieberson (producer) for "John F. Kennedy - As We Remember Him"
*Grammy Awards of 1965
**That Was The Week That Was for "BBC Tribute to John F. Kennedy" performed by the "That Was the Week That Was" cast
*Grammy Awards of 1964
**Edward Albee (playwright) for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" performed by Melinda Dillon, George Grizzard, Uta Hagen & Arthur Hill
*Grammy Awards of 1963
**Charles Laughton for "The Story-Teller: A Session With Charles Laughton"
*Grammy Awards of 1962
**Leonard Bernstein for "Humor in Music"
*Grammy Awards of 1961
**Robert Bialek (producer) for "FDR Speaks"
*Grammy Awards of 1960
**Carl Sandburg for "A Lincoln Portrait"

1950s

*Grammy Awards of 1959
**Stan Freberg for "The Best of the Stan Freberg Shows"

ee also

*Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children