| 2022 | Lynn Nottage | Festival photos |
| 2019 | Octavio Solis | Festival photos |
| 2018 | Carlyle Brown | Festival photos |
| 2017 | Beth Henley | Festival photos |
| 2016 | William Inge Theatre Festival 35th Anniversary Celebration | Festival photos |
| 2015 | Donald Margulies | Festival photos |
| 2014 | Arthur Kopit (1937-2021) | |
| 2013 | William Inge’s 100th Birthday Commemoration | |
| 2012 | David Henry Hwang | |
| 2011 | Marsha Norman | |
| 2010 | Paula Vogel | |
| 2009 | Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (1929-2018) | |
| 2008 | Christopher Durang | |
| 2007 | Jerry Bock (1928-2010) & Sheldon Harnick | |
| 2006 | 25th Anniversary Playwrights’ Retrospective | |
| 2005 | Tina Howe | |
| 2004 | Arthur Laurents (1917-2011) | |
| 2003 | Romulus Linney (1931-2011) | |
| 2002 | John Kander & Fred Ebb (1933-2004) | |
| 2001 | Lanford Wilson (1937-2011) | |
| 2000 | A.R. Gurney (1930-2017) | |
| 1999 | John Guare | |
| 1998 | Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) | |
| 1997 | Neil Simon (1927-2018) | Festival photos |
| 1996 | August Wilson (1945-2005) | |
| 1995 | Arthur Miller (1915-2005) | Festival photos |
| 1994 | Terrence McNally (1938-2020) | Festival photos |
| 1993 | Wendy Wasserstein (1950-2006) | Festival photos |
| 1992 | Sir Peter Shaffer (1926-2016) | |
| 1991 | Edward Albee (1928-2016) | |
| 1990 | Betty Comden (1915-2006) & Adolph Green (1915-2002) | |
| 1989 | Horton Foote (1916-2009) | |
| 1988 | (on the road): Robert E. Lee (1918-1994) | |
| 1988 | Sidney Kingsley (1906-1995) | |
| 1987 | Garson Kanin (1912-1999) | |
| 1986 | John Patrick (1905-1995) | |
| 1985 | Robert Anderson (1917-2009) | |
| 1984 | William Gibson (1914-2008) | |
| 1983 | Jerome Lawrence (1915-2004) | |