List of history awards

This list of history awards covers notable awards given to people, a group of people, or institutions, for their contribution to the study of history. It is organized by region. The entries name the prize and sponsoring organization, give notes on the purpose or criteria, and where available give the period in which the prize was awarded. Typically a prize is first awarded in the year after it is established, and applies to work published in the previous year.

Americas

Canada

Award	Sponsor	Notes	Awarded
CHA Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize	Canadian Historical Association	Annual award for "the most significant contribution to an understanding of the Canadian past"	since 1977
Cundill History Prize	McGill University	Literature award for history	since 2008
François-Xavier Garneau Medal	Canadian Historical Association	Awarded every five years for an outstanding Canadian contribution to historical research	since 1980
Frank Watson Book Prize	University of Guelph	Awarded every two years for "for the best monograph, edited collection and/or book-length original work on Scottish History published in the previous two years."	since 1993
J. B. Tyrrell Historical Medal	Royal Society of Canada	Outstanding work in the history of Canada. Named in honour of Joseph Tyrrell	since 1928

Latin America

Award	Sponsor	Notes
Chilean National History Award	Government of Chile	History of Chile
Orden del Pop	Universidad Francisco Marroquín	Guatemala's cultural heritage

United States

Award	Sponsor	Notes	Awarded
Sacknoff Prize for Space History	SPACE 3.0 Foundation	Encourage original research by university students in the field of space history.	since 2011
Leadership in History Awards	American Association for State and Local History	The awards recognize projects, programs, publications, and individuals that set standards in collecting, preserving, and interpreting state and local history.	since 1945
Herbert Baxter Adams Prize	American Historical Association	Distinguished first book by a young scholar in the field of European history	since 1905
AJHA Book Award	American Journalism Historians Association	Best book in media history
AJHA Teaching Awards	American Journalism Historians Association	Excellence in teaching journalism and mass communication history
Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement	Archaeological Institute of America	Archaeology	since 1965
Bancroft Prize	Columbia University	Diplomacy or the history of the Americas	since 1948
K. Jack Bauer Award	North American Society for Oceanic History	Life-time contributions to the field of maritime history
George Louis Beer Prize	American Historical Association	Best book in European international history from 1895 to the present	since 1923
Bentley Book Prize	World History Association	First awarded as the World History Association Book Prize. Name changed in 2012	since 1999
Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize	Berkshire Conference of Women Historians	Two prizes, one for work that deals with the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality, one for a first book in any field of history that does not focus on the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality.	since 1990
Beveridge Award	American Historical Association	Best English-language book on United States, Canada or Latin America history from 1492 to the present	since 1939
Ray Allen Billington Prize	Organization of American Historians	Best book about American frontier history, including all of North and South America, all post-1492 pioneer experiences, and comparisons between American frontiers and others around the world	since 1981
Margaret A. Blanchard Dissertation Prize	American Journalism Historians Association	Best doctoral dissertation dealing with mass communication history
James L. Clifford Prize	American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies	Best article in 18th-century studies	Since 1978
Cornplanter Medal	Cayuga County Historical Society	Iroquois studies	1904-1979
Merle Curti Award	Organization of American Historians	Best book in American social and/or American intellectual history	Since 1978
Millia Davenport Publication Award	Costume Society of America	recognizes and promotes excellence in the publication of costume, dress, appearance, and fashion related scholarship.
Dexter Award	American Chemical Society	History of chemistry	1956–2001
Frederick Douglass Book Prize	Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History	Most outstanding non-fiction book in English on the subject of slavery, abolition or antislavery movements	since 1999
John H. Dunning Prize	American Historical Association	Best book in history related to the United States	since 1929
Sidney M. Edelstein Award	American Chemical Society	History of chemistry	2002–2009
Eugene M. Emme Astronautical Literature Award	American Astronautical Society History Committee	Truly outstanding book serving public understanding about the positive impact of astronautics upon society. The award is in honor of Eugene M. Emme, NASA's first historian	-
John K. Fairbank Prize	American Historical Association	Outstanding book in the history of China proper, Vietnam, Chinese Central Asia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea, or Japan, substantially after 1800	since 1969
Frank Gibney Award	Journal of American-East Asian Relations	Article written by graduate student in any field of American-East Asian relations	since 2008
Friend of History Award	Organization of American Historians	For an individual, who is not a professional historian, or an institution or organization for outstanding support for the pursuit of historical research, for the public presentation of history, or for the work of the OAH	since 2005
Leo Gershoy Award	American Historical Association	Best publication in English dealing with the history of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries	since 1977
Louis Gottschalk Prize	American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies	Outstanding historical or critical study on the 18th century	since 1976
Gilder Lehrman Prize in Military History	Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation	Best book on military history in the English-speaking world. Before 2016 known as the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History	since 2014
HIST Award for Outstanding Achievement in the History of Chemistry	American Chemical Society	History of chemistry	since 2013
J. C. Harrington Award in Historical Archaeology	Society for Historical Archaeology	For a life-time of contributions to the discipline centered on scholarship	since 1982
Hattendorf Prize	Naval War College	Original research that contributes to a deeper historical understanding of the broad context and interrelationships involved in the roles, contributions, limitations, and uses of the sea services in history	since 2011
Ellis W. Hawley Prize	Organization of American Historians	Best historical study of the political economy, politics, or institutions of the United States, in its domestic or international affairs, from the American Civil War to the present	since 1997
Alice Davis Hitchcock Award	Society of Architectural Historians	Most distinguished work of scholarship in the history of architecture	since 1949
Commodore Dudley W. Knox Naval History Lifetime Achievement Award	Naval Historical Foundation	Recognize the lifetime achievements of historians of the United States Navy	since 2013
Sidney Kobre Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism History	American Journalism Historians Association	History of journalism in the United States	since 1986
Richard W. Leopold Prize	Organization of American Historians	Best history book on U.S. federal government agencies, U.S. foreign policies, U.S. military affairs, or biographies of government officials	since 1984
Lawrence W. Levine Award	Organization of American Historians	Best book in American cultural history	since 2008
Suzanne J. Levinson Prize	History of Science Society	Book in the history of the life sciences and natural history	since 2006
Wesley Logan Prize	American Historical Association Association for the Study of African American Life	Outstanding book in African diaspora history	since 1994
John Lyman Book Awards	North American Society for Oceanic History	Excellence in published books making a major contribution to the study and understanding of maritime and naval history	since 1995
Mark Lynton History Prize	Nieman Foundation for Journalism Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism	History, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression	since 1999
Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement	Navy League of the United States	Notable literary contribution that has advanced the knowledge of the importance of sea power in the United States	since 1957
George L. Mosse Prize	American Historical Association	European History	since 2000
George Perkins Marsh Prize	American Society for Environmental History	Best book in environmental history	since 1989
Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award	Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights	Works which extend understanding of the root causes of bigotry	1985–2008
New-York Historical Society book prizes	New-York Historical Society	American History Book Prize New-York Historical Society Children's History Book Prize Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History
National Council on Public History book prize	National Council on Public History	Best book about or growing out of public history published within the previous two calendar years	since 2005
Francis Parkman Prize	Society of American Historians	Best book in American history	since 1957
Pulitzer Prize for History	Columbia University	Distinguished book about the history of the United States	since 1917
James A. Rawley Prize	American Historical Association	Best book in Atlantic history	since 1990
James A. Rawley Prize	Organization of American Historians	Best book on race relations in the United States	since 1999
Rome Prize	American Academy in Rome	Italian studies	since 1896
Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize in Naval History	Navy League of the United States Roosevelt Institute Theodore Roosevelt Association	Naval History	since 1986
Margaret W. Rossiter History of Women in Science Prize	History of Science Society	Outstanding book or article on the history of women in science	since 1987
George Sarton Medal	History of Science Society	Historian of science from the international community distinguished for a lifetime of scholarly achievement	since 1955
John Gilmary Shea Prize	American Catholic Historical Association	Contribution to knowledge of the history of the Catholic Church	since 1945
Philip Taft Labor History Book Award	Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations	Books relating to labor history of the United States	since 1978
Frederick Jackson Turner Award	Organization of American Historians	Author's first book on American history	since 1959
Abbot Payson Usher Prize	Society for the History of Technology	Best scholarly work on the history of technology published... under the auspices of the Society	since 1961
Robert M. Utley Book Award	Western History Association	Best book on military history of the frontier and western North America from prehistory through the 20th century	since 2003
Watumull Prize	American Historical Association	Best book on the history of India	1945–1982
Justin Winsor Prize	American Historical Association	History in the Western Hemisphere	1896–1938
Justin Winsor Prize	American Library Association	Best library history essay	since 1978
Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize in American History	New-York Historical Society	Adult non-fiction book on American history or biography	since 2006