The

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award has 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 * From 1998 to 2022 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word Album * From 2023 it will be awarded as Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording. Poetry reading now has its own Grammy category,

Best Spoken Word Poetry Album The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album is a category in the annual Grammy Awards, that was first presented at the 2023 show on February 5, 2023. According to the Recording Academy, this new category "recognizes excellence in spoken ...

. This category now also includes audio books and story telling. Up to and including 2022, it also included poetry reading. Three

US Presidents The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. The officeholder leads the executive branch of the federal government a ...

have won the award:

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

(who has won the award three times),

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

(who has won the award twice), and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, along with spoken recordings of

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

and

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. Four U.S. Senators have won: Barack Obama,

Everett Dirksen Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 u ...

Al Franken Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...

(won prior to his election), and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

(won when she was First Lady). First Lady Michelle Obama has also won the award after she was First Lady. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for a recording released in the previous year.

Recipients

Martin Luther King Jr with medallion NYWTS

Angelou at Clinton inauguration (cropped 2)

Hillary Clinton by Gage Skidmore 4 (cropped)

References

{{Grammy Award categories

Audio Book An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

Spoken Word Album A spoken word album is a recording of spoken material, a predecessor of the contemporary audiobook genre. Rather than featuring music or songs, the content of spoken word albums include political speeches, dramatic readings of historical documents ...

Spoken word albums Album awards

Recipients

See also

References