Hank Williams, the legendary country singer and songwriter, was posthumously honored by the Pulitzer Prize Board for lifetime achievement in music.

Hank Williams, the country pioneer who is among the most influential singer-songwriters in music, was given a special Pulitzer Prize citation.

"I don't think any country artist cast a longer shadow than he does, both as a songwriter and a performer," a Country Music Hall of Fame official said. (A Williams family exhibit runs at the Hall of Fame through 2011.)

"His songs are master works. But there's a mystique about his character that still fascinates the people who have come after him. He was the romantic ideal of the hillbilly Shakespeare and his cultural legacy continues to grow."

Williams joins the short list of Bob Dylan, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane as American musicians honored by the Pulitzer Board.