Cite1978 National Book Awards
| Biography and Autobiography | Samuel Johnson, W. Jackson Bate |
| Children's Literature | The View From the Oak, Judith Kohl and Herbert Kohl |
| Contemporary Thought | Winners and Losers, Gloria Emerson |
| Fiction | Blood Ties, Mary Lee Settle |
| History | The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870–1914, David McCullough |
| Poetry | The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov, Howard Nemerov |
| Translation | Uwe George's In the Deserts of This Earth, Richard Winston and Clara Winston |