He later worked with Voice of America as a producer of broadcasts to the Far East. The Washington Post Writers Group began syndicating his column. Tom Shales received the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism in 1988. That year, he also won an American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award for his appreciations of famed film and television personalities. He was selected as the city's best newspaper reporter by readers of the Washingtonian magazine in 1990.
Shales needles the networks and delights readers.
Shales lives in McLean, Va., with three television sets.