The National Book Foundation presented the 55th Annual National Book Awards for best book in each of the genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature. Garrison Keillor emceed the ceremony. The winners each gave short acceptance speeches. In addition, author Judy Blume was given a special medal for distinguished contribution to American letters. The 2004 winners were: for nonfiction, Kevin Boyle, author of Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, published by Henry Holt and Co.; for fiction, Lily Tuck, author of The News From Paraguay, published by HarperCollinsPublishers; for poetry, Jean Valentine, author of Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965 - 2003, published by Wesleyan University Press; and for young people's literature, Pete Hautman, author of Godless, published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers.