Since 1973, the Jefferson Awards have been presented in five categories. The categories were created by the Board to reflect the full range of service to America - from top elected officials to neighborhood volunteers. They range from "Greatest Public Service by An Elected Official" to "Outstanding Public Service Benefiting Local Communities."

U.S. Senator John Heinz Award
Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official
1973 Dr. Henry A. Kissinger
1974 Elliot Richardson
1975 Peter W. Rodino, Jr.
1976 Arthur F. Burns, Alan Greenspan, William E. Simon
1977 Michael Mansfield
1978 Hubert H. Humphrey
1979 Kenneth Gibson, William Donald Schaefer, Coleman A. Young
1980 Cyrus R. Vance
1981 Warren Christopher
1982 Howard H. Baker, Jr.
1983 Paul A. Volcker
1984 William H. Webster
1985 James A. Baker, III
1986 George P. Shultz
1987 Justice William J. Brennan
1988 Dr. C. Everett Koop
1989 Paul Nitze
1990 General Colin Powell
1991 Dick Cheney
1992 Justice Thurgood Marshall
1993 Carla Hills
1994 George Mitchell, Bob Michel
1995 Justice Harry Blackmun
1996 Sam Nunn
1997 Robert Dole
1998 Robert Rubin
1999 Daniel Patrick Moynihan
2000 John Glenn
2001 Madeleine Albright
2002 Rudolph Giuliani
2003 Dr. Condoleezza Rice
2004 Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
2005 Lee H. Hamilton, Thomas H. Kean
2006 U.S. Congressman John Lewis
2007 The Hon. Richard M. Daley

S. Roger Horchow Award
Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen
1973 John W. Gardner
1974 Ralph Nader
1975 Katharine Graham
1976 John D. Rockefeller, III
1977 Art Buchwald
1978 Paul Mellon
1979 Howard Jarvis
1980 Dr. Norman Borlaug
1981 Walter Cronkite
1982 Bob Hope
1983 Kirk Douglas
1984 J. Peter Grace
1985 Lee Iacocca
1986 H. Ross Perot
1987 Irving Brown
1988 James W. Rouse
1989 Leo Cherne
1990 Jimmy Carter
1991 Robert C. Macauley
1992 Faye Wattleton
1993 James Burke
1994 Jim and Sarah Brady
1995 Walter H. Annenberg
1996 Brian Lamb
1997 Nancy Brinker
1998 Oprah Winfrey
1999 Elizabeth Dole
2000 Elayne Bennett
2001 Ted Benna
2002 Lilly Tartikoff
2003 Anne Douglas
2004 Ken Burns
2005 Vartan Gregorian
2006 Michael Feinberg & David Levin
2007 Professor Jeffrey Sachs

Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged
1973 Cesar Chavez
1974 Dr. Thomas Szasz
1975 Rev. Leon Sullivan
1976 Rev. Theodore Hesburgh
1977 Dr. Howard Rusk
1978 Jerry Lewis
1979 Jesse Jackson
1980 Allard Lowenstein
1981 Marva Collins
1982 Claude Pepper
1983 Helen Hayes
1984 Maude E. Callen
1985 Betty Ford
1986 Eugene Lang
1987 Ginetta Sagan
1988 Fr. Bruce Ritter
1989 Kimi Gray
1990 Jaime Escalante
1991 Marian Wright Edelman
1992 Eunice Shriver
1993 Arthur Ashe
1994 Paul Newman
1995 Barbara Bush
1996 Rosalynn Carter
1997 Oseola McCarty
1998 Thaddeus S. Lott, Sr.
1999 Millard Fuller
2000 Benjamin Carson, M.D.
2001 Dr. Dorothy Height
2002 Bill & Melinda Gates
2003 Mathilde Krim, Ph.D.
2004 Rev. Fred L. Shuttleworth
2005 Dave Pelzer
2006 Dr. I King Jordan
2007 Geoffrey Canada

Samuel S. Beard Award
Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Younger
1973 Joseph A. Yablonski
1974 Maynard Jackson
1975 R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
1976 Vilma S. Martinez
1977 Max Cleland
1978 Bernard Powell
1979 Denis Hayes
1980 US Olympic Hockey Team
1981 David Stockman
1982 Henry Cisneros
1983 Jan Scruggs
1984 Sally Ride
1985 Trevor Ferrell
1986 Robert Hayes
1987 Steven Jobs
1988 Marlee Matlin
1989 Marc Buoniconti
1990 Anne Donahue
1991 Wendy Kopp
1992 Michael Brown, Alan Khazei
1993 Mary Taylor
1994 Wayne Meisel
1995 Stacey Bess
1996 Andrea Jaeger
1997 Michael Danziger
1998 Bobby Jindal
1999 Anthony Shriver
2000 Faith Hill
2001 Lance Armstrong
2002 Chad Pregracke
2003 Matthew Meyer
2004 Kirsten Lodal, Brian Kreiter
2005 Ben Shuldiner
2006 Peyton Manning
2007 Lindsay Hyde