Langum Prizes


The David J. Langum Sr. Prizes are American literary awards for biography, legal history, community activism, and formerly, historical fiction, awarded annually since 2001 by the Langum Charitable Trust.
The Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction was awarded for historical fiction between 2003 and 2022. The prize was for $1,000 and was awarded annually at Wheeler Theater, Port Townsend, Washington, in conjunction with Centrum Foundation’s annual Writers Conference. The prize was discontinued in 2024.
The David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Legal History or Biography is awarded for legal history or biography and given since 2001. The prize is $1,000 and is awarded annually at the Birmingham Public Library, Birmingham, Alabama. The ceremony is sponsored by the Friends of the Birmingham Public Library and the Birmingham Public Library.

Honorees

Past winners and honorees of the David J. Langum Sr. Prizes.
  • 2001 : No Award
  • 2001 : Elizabeth Urban Alexander, Notorious Woman: The Celebrated Case of Myra Clark Gaines
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  • 2003 : Robert J. Begiebing, Rebecca Wentworth’s Distraction: A Novel
  • 2003 : Robert J. Cottrol, Raymond T. Diamond, and Leland B. Ware, Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution
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  • 2007 : Kurt Andersen, Heyday
  • 2007 : Bruce J. Dierenfield, The Battle over School Prayer: How Engel v. Vitale Changed America
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  • 2012 : Ron Rash, The Cove
  • *: Steve Wiegenstein, Slant of Light: A Novel of Utopian Dreams and Civil War
  • 2012 : Samuel Walker, Presidents and Civil Liberties from Wilson to Obama: A Story of Poor Custodians
  • *: R. Kent Newmyer, The Treason Trial of Aaron Burr: Law, Politics, and the Character Wars of the New Nation
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  • 2013 : Gary Schanbacher, Crossing Purgatory
  • *: Christine Wade, Seven Locks
  • 2013 : Whitney Strub, Obscenity Rules: Roth v. United States and the Long Struggle over Sexual Expression
  • *: Alexander Wohl, Father, Son, and Constitution: How Justice Tom Clark and Attorney General Ramsey Clark Shaped American Democracy
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  • 2014 : Kimberly Elkins, What is Visible
  • *: Catherine Bell, Rush of Shadows
  • *: Laila Lalami, The Moor's Account
  • 2014 : Nathaniel Grow, Baseball on Trial: The Origin of Baseball's Antitrust Exemption
  • *: Lori Sturdevant, Her Honor: Rosalie Wahl and the Minnesota Women's Movement
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  • 2015 : Faith Sullivan, Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse
  • *: Meg Waite Clayton, The Race for Paris
  • 2015 : Leonard L. Richards, Who Freed the Slaves? The Fight over the Thirteenth Amendment
  • *: Nancy Woloch, A Class by Herself: Protective Laws for Women Workers, 1890s-1990s
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