The Village Voice wins its first Pulitzer Prize. Teresa Carpenter wins for Feature Writing after the award was returned by a Washington Post writer who admitted fabricating the original winning story.
Jules Feiffer is a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.
The Clash’s Sandinista! was named best album and Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” was named best single in the Pazz & Jop Music Critic’s poll.
Meryl Streep wins the Obie Award for best performance for her role in Alice in Concert and Kevin Kline wins for The Pirates of Penzance.
The New York Times publishes a story headlined, “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals.” This rare cancer, labeled an “epidemic” by the Center for Disease Control, would later determiend to be AIDS.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunite as Simon and Garfunkel for a free concert in Central Park. The show attracts more than 500,000 people, is televised, and prompts the duo to go on world tours in 1982 and 1983.
The Voice Literary Supplement, founded by arts editor M. Mark, debuts as an extension of the Voice‘s book review section.