The 1917 Pulitzer Prizes were the very first to be presented. There were only four categories - the others that had been specified in Joseph Pulitzer's bequest were phased in over the next few years.

The winners were:

Journalism awards

• editorial writing: no author named, New York Tribune, for an editorial article on the first anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania.
• reporting : Herbert Bayard Swope, New York World, for articles which appeared October 10, October 15 and from November 4 daily to November 22, 1916, inclusive, entitled, "Inside the German Empire."

Letters awards

• biography or autobiography: Laura E. Richards and Maude Howe Elliott , Julia Ward Howe.
• history: J.J. Jusserand , With Americans of Past and Present Days